Jarryd Hayne, a former Australian rugby league star player, has been found guilty of raping a woman in 2018 in the Newcastle region. Back in December 2017, a back-to-back civil lawsuit was filed by his first rape case against an American woman known only by the initials JV, which took place in 2015. That was settled with $100,000 to the alleged victim. Not only did he enter the courts twice (thanks to the American woman “JV”), Hayne has faced trial for the third time in the 2018 case we mentioned above, with the first trial resulting in a jury in disagreement. After 2018, when the guilty verdict from the second trial was overturned on appeal, Hayne finally pleaded not guilty to rape charges in relation to the incident in 2019. If you are confused, just keep reading and we’ll explain the infamous Jarryd Hayne rape cases. 

Jarryd Hayne Is Heading To Jail Again: Here Are The Details! 

2015:

Former player Jarryd Hayne is one of the most successful athletes in the Australian rugby league, with a successful career in the National Rugby League (NRL) and even a brief stint in the American NFL. This was where his first public rape case came to be. 

Hayne moved from rugby league to American football in 2015. In March of the same year, he signed an NFL contract with the San Francisco 49ers. In his only NFL season, Hayne played in a total of eight games as a center and punt returner.

The 2018 Newcastle Case:

The 35-year-old has consistently denied the allegations, stating that he did not attack the woman in her bedroom, and that she was not left with any injuries.

For 11 days in March, a New South Wales District Court jury listened to recorded statements from witnesses, including Hayne, the complainant, her family, and police. The court heard that the two parties had communicated via social media for two weeks before Hayne stopped by the woman’s home in Newcastle, about two hours north of Sydney, after a stag party on the 30th of September 2018.

Prosecutors argued that the woman had told Jarryd Hayne that she did not want to have sex with him. Despite the woman saying “no” and “stop,” Hayne assaulted her, according to the prosecution.

The athlete insisted that all sexual activity was consensual and that the injuries suffered by the woman were accidental.

On 22 March 2021, after six days of deliberations, the jury returned its guilty verdict on two counts of sexual assault, leaving Hayne shaking his head and his wife crying.

This verdict marks the end of a five-year legal battle for Hayne, who first faced trial in 2020, but the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. 

Jarryd Hayne will go to jail after being accused of rape against a Newcastle woman in acts committed in 2018. This has been decided by the authorities who have concluded that the former player is guilty of these events despite the fact that he is still trying to prove his innocence even after a second trial in 2021 resulted in a guilty verdict. 

Hayne appealed, and the former Australian player has at all times avoided acknowledging his guilt in the events denounced and was trying to prove his innocence in the case, arguing that the jury had received “flawed” instructions and that there had been an error in a pre-trial ruling on the evidence. 

The player spent nine months in jail before a judge overturned his conviction and ordered a third trial in Sydney on 16 December 2020. 

Where is Jarryd Hayne now in 2023? 

The Jarryd Hayne situation has completely paralyzed Australia and especially Australian sport. The former player was one of the great figures in world rugby and in particular in the Australian league and is currently in the worst situation of all his life, surely, in a trance he would never have imagined. He is facing the most complicated game of his career – convicted of rape in April 2023. 

The case is being followed with special interest in Australia due to the strong media power of the star, who until a few years ago was one of the players to watch in the national rugby league. 

After learning that he will have to go to prison, Jarryd was deeply hurt: “It’s unfortunate, it’s disappointing, but at the end of the day they have made a decision and I respect that.” Finally, for more than 18 hours the Sydney District Court jury meditated on its decision and ended up ruling that, indeed, all the evidence in the investigation pointed to the former rugby star Jarryd Hayne having committed a crime of rape and that on he would weigh two counts of sexual intercourse without consent. 

After leaving the courts, Hayne wanted to defend his innocence before the media and did not hesitate to release a forceful message that has already spread like wildfire in his country: “I prefer to go to jail knowing that I told the truth than to be a free man living a lie”. 

Well, he’s in jail right now and is being held on remand until he is finally sentenced. 

This is not his first time in jail because on 22 March 2021, Hayne was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, and within less than 2 months, Judge Syme sentenced Hayne to a maximum of 5 years and 9 months. It was in early May 2021, less than 2 months after being found guilty that Hayne was sent to jail with a non-parole period of 3 years and 8 months. 

In what could have been a fortuitous turn of events,  the Court of Criminal Appeal ordered a fresh trial in February 2022 after quashing Hayne’s conviction. As he was allowed bail of $20,000 Hayne was Subsequently granted and released from Cooma Correctional Centre. 

Other FAQs about Jarryd Hayne:

What is Jarryd Hayne being accused of?

Criminatingly important accusations are being made against him by a 26-year-old woman from Newcastle, in which he (in her own room) would have abused and caused several injuries in the dispute between the two.  

This woman describes Jarryd Hayne’s attitude as “rude, forceful and inconsiderate” while remembering with terror how the former world rugby star would have abused her until forcing her when she refused to have sex with him. 

She also said that Jarryd would have tried to suffocate her with her own pillow to prevent her from resisting.  

Why is Jarryd Hayne in jail right now?

At the moment, Hayne continues to fight for his supposed innocence despite the fact that he is currently in jail as he was convicted of rape in April 2023. 

At first, he assured that he had not had sex with the woman and then, after having exchanged a few kisses with her, he claimed to have had sexual relations with the young woman, but always with her consent, something that she obviously denies. 

Jarryd Hayne’s bail was granted initially but was retracted and now he is in prison until his sentencing. 

How good was Jarryd Hayne’s career?

Jarryd Hayne is quite an institution in his country to the point of having been appointed for two consecutive times the best player in the NRL, Australia’s rugby league. In addition, he also played for the San Francisco 49ers and even defended the colors of the Fiji team. 

Hayne began his career in rugby league, making his NRL debut in May 2006. He made his first appearance for the Australian national team the following year. In the 2008 world championships he represented Fiji, and in the 2013 competitions against Australia, winning the world championship.

Despite his promising rookie season, Hayne announced in May 2016 that he would leave the NFL and switch to rugby sevens, with the goal of representing Fiji when the sport enters the Olympic program in Rio de Janeiro 2016. He wasn’t qualified for the Olympics so he returned to the NRL before a final season with Parramatta in 2018, and also with the Gold Coast Titans.