There were gasps, tears and a shout of “you’re innocent” followed by a violent scuffle outside court when disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne was jailed for five years and nine months for sexually assaulting a woman in her Newcastle home.
Moments earlier, a judge said Hayne still does not accept he did anything wrong.
Hayne, 33, was convicted in March of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent after he assaulted the woman, then aged 26, with his hands and mouth and left her bleeding from the genitals in September 2018.
Jarryd Hayne walks into court on Thursday morning.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
On Thursday, NSW District Court Judge Helen Syme said Hayne was “fully aware that the victim was not consenting and went ahead anyway”, when the woman had “every right to feel safe from attack in the privacy of her own home”.
Hayne had been chatting to the woman on social media for almost two weeks, but they had never met – until the evening of September 30, when he took a taxi to her house on his way back to Sydney from a buck’s party weekend in Newcastle.
Hayne played the woman several songs on a laptop, including the Ed Sheeran cover of Wonderwall, before the woman heard the beep of a horn and discovered he had left his taxi waiting.
The ex-Parramatta Eels fullback went outside to placate the driver, returned where he watched several minutes of NRL grand final coverage with the woman’s mother, then went to her bedroom where he began to touch and kiss her.
The woman was not interested in sexual contact with Hayne after discovering the taxi, and said to him, “what do you think you’re doing, there’s no way I’m going to touch you”. Hayne persisted, removing the woman’s jeans and assaulting her despite her protests of “no”.
Sheriffs intervene after a scuffle breaks out outside the court.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Judge Syme said Hayne, who weighed about twice what the victim did, only stopped the attack when the woman began to bleed, and not because he realised what he was doing was wrong. She said the woman “clearly and firmly” told Hayne she was not going to touch him, but he was “intent” on sexual activity and “simply chose at that time to ignore her”.
“Perhaps he had not even considered, prior to her saying that, that he could be refused. There was no planning, but his attitude did not countenance rejection,” Judge Syme said.
The judge said Hayne “does not accept that he did anything wrong, and for reasons best known to himself cannot accept the decision of the jury” who found him guilty, so he may find a jail “deniers” program helpful.
Hayne was jailed for five years and nine months, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
There were gasps in court and woman began to sob when the sentence was announced. As four corrective services officers approached Hayne to take him into custody, one of his supporters shouted at him: “you’re innocent”.
Hayne’s wife, Amellia Bonnici, walked from court surrounded by a large group of people holding umbrellas and items of clothing around her. A loud and tense scuffle broke out, with photographers pushed and attacked, including one photographer who said he was pinned to the bonnet of the car and punched to the head from behind.
When the victim left Newcastle Courthouse with detectives and prosecutors, one of Hayne’s supporters stared at her and shouted something from several metres away, causing one of the detectives to turn around. He then spat on the ground in the woman’s direction.
The same man later approached a journalist and attempted to cast aspersions on the victim.
Detective Inspector Eugene Stek, the officer in charge of the case, lauded the bravery of the “survivor” and said she was “a very strong and inspiring young woman” who should hold her head up high.
He said the behaviour of Hayne’s supporters outside court was “a reflection on them” and the spitting was “absolutely disgraceful and disgusting, in my opinion”.
In a victim impact statement on Thursday, the woman said she was destroyed and damaged by what Hayne did, but “I’m still standing”.
“I felt dirty and violated. He made me feel like an object and was looking straight through me,” the woman said.
“My vagina was stinging in a throb-like sensation and I couldn’t understand or fully comprehend that he had just done that to me. I sat on my bed hugging my knees and staring into nothingness.”
The woman said she “wanted to scream” when she made the mistake of reading what people were saying about her on social media, and she felt the urge to set the record straight as people publicly speculated about what happened.
“People talk about my vagina, my choices, and like to give their opinions based on what they’ve heard, and it is the most helpless feeling,” she said. “No matter what happened before or after the assault, no matter who he was or what he’s done, no means no.”
On Thursday, Hayne’s barrister said his client has suffered punishment outside the court, including having his family followed and photographed, and losing a “lucrative” one-year deal he was on the verge of signing with NRL club St George Illawarra, worth $500,000.
Hayne maintained on Thursday he “didn’t do it” and claimed “what the law says, you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty, I was never afforded that”.
He will be eligible for parole in January 2025.
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Georgina Mitchell is a court reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2021-05-06 05:28:06Z
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