Jarryd Hayne will spend at least three years 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.
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 at Sydney’s Downing Centre Court on Friday.
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.
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Judge Graham Turnbull SC took nearly two hours to deliver the sentence.
A total sentence of four years and nine months was handed down, but it was backdated to July 2, 2022 to account for the previous nine months Hayne spent in custody.
He was given a non-parole period of three years but counting the time already served, he could be released on May 6, 2025.
Hayne had replied ‘say no more’ after Judge Turnbull finished his remarks, before giving his outburst and being taken off the screen.
The disgraced footballer (pictured with wife Amellia Bonnici) was in April found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent
Hayne’s wife Amellia Bonnici didn’t appear in court but watched the proceedings online.
One apparent supporter of Hayne logged onto the online proceeding with the username ‘love you brovy’.
Hayne will now be properly classified as a prisoner in need of protection and moved to a more accommodating facility where he will be around other high-profile prisoners.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Turnbull noted the athlete’s fall from grace after having debuted in the NRL at just 18-years-old.
‘He won’t be remembered for his sporting achievements,’ he said.
Hayne has maintained his innocence throughout the court proceedings and claims the sexual encounter was entirely consensual.
An aggregate sentence of four years and nine months was handed down, but it was backdated to July 2, 2022 to account for the previous nine months Hayne spent in custody
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.
The court heard Hayne performed oral and digital sex on the woman without her consent for about 30 seconds until she started bleeding.
‘The offender was 104kilograms and the complainant was 48kilograms. He overwhelmed her in an inherently unequal contest and an indulgence of physical power to achieve some sexual gratification,’ Judge Turnbull said.
‘The offending conduct only stopped when the bleeding commenced. He did not relent voluntarily.’
Judge Turnbull accepted while both Hayne and the woman had expected a sexual encounter may have been possible, it was the victim’s ‘absolute right’ to give her consent or not.
Hayne was given a non-parole period of three years but counting the time already served, he could be released on May 6, 2025
‘The offending occurred in her home where she was entitled to feel safe,’ he said.
Judge Turnbull also noted Hayne had shown no remorse for his offending as a result of maintaining his innocence.
He said he was under the view the 35-year-old was not reoffend and said he was a ‘highly different man’ to he was at the time of the assault.
‘He’s well advanced in his rehabilitation which will now be interrupted. People (Hayne’s family) will suffer as a result of him being taken from them,’ he said.
A victim impact statement was read to the court on behalf of the victim during an earlier 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