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Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for five years and nine months for sexually assaulting a woman in her Newcastle home while his taxi waited outside.
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
He 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 stopped at her house on his way back to Sydney from a two-day buck’s party in Newcastle for another footballer.
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 a 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 a car and punched to the head from behind.
Content warning: This story contains references to sexual assault.
Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for at least three years and eight months for attacking a young woman in her bedroom on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
District Court Judge Helen Syme in Newcastle on Thursday said Hayne had to be jailed because non-consensual sexual intercourse was an extreme form of violence which the community expected courts to take very seriously.
The judge noted Hayne only stopped attacking the victim when she started to bleed, not when she was telling him no and stop. She (the victim) has every right to feel safe from attack in the privacy of her home, the judge said.