Jarryd Hayne is jailed for at least three years as he makes an extraordinary outburst in court and judge condemns him for rape of young woman: ‘Won’t be remembered for sport’
Jarryd Hayne has been sentenced to a maximum of four years and nine months in jail after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman five years ago.
The disgraced footballer was in April found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent against the woman, then aged 26, at her Newcastle home on the night of the NRL grand final in September, 2018.
It was the third time Hayne, 35, faced a trial over the same incident, and the second time he was found guilty.
He’d earlier spent nine months in prison before his conviction was overturned on appeal in February, 2022.
His third trial began in March 13 this year.
Judge Graham Turnbull SC took nearly two hours to deliver the sentence at Sydney’s Downing Centre Court on Friday.
Hayne will be eligible for parole after serving three years.
The father-of-three who appeared via videolink in his prison greens cried out ‘f**king three years bro’ after the sentencing was handed down.
The disgraced footballer (pictured with wife Amellia Bonnici) was in April found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent
Hayne has maintained his innocence throughout the court proceedings and claims the sexual encounter was entirely consensual.
But the jury accepted the woman’s version of events that she repeatedly said ‘no’ and ‘stop’, coming to a guilty verdict after 22 hours on April 4.
The jury was told the woman refused to consent to sex because the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside her house.
A victim impact statement was read to the court on behalf of the victim during the sentence hearing by Crown prosecutor John Sfinas.
The woman said her life has been a ‘never-ending nightmare’ since September 30, 2018.
‘I still don’t know how to put any of this into words,’ the statement read.
‘From the 30th of September 2018, my life has been launched into what feels like a never-ending nightmare.’
The woman said she was hoping to move on after the second trial, but said she hadn’t had the chance to ‘move on or feel peace’, reliving the trauma ‘over and over’.
‘In September it will be five years since this has happened. I was a 26-year-old with the world at her feet, now I am nearly 31 and haven’t been able to finish uni,’ the woman said.
‘I am stronger, I am wiser, but I am damaged and I won’t ever be the same person.’
More to come
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