Read text messages that turned the rape trial of former NRL employee Jarryd Hayne upside down

A woman who claims to have been sexually assaulted by Jarryd Hayne consistently messaged another man the same day asking her to visit her or she would “send for Jarryd Hayne,” he was told at trial.

Although the former NRL star has faced three criminal trials in NSW District Court over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman in her Newcastle home, this was the first time a jury heard anything from Steven Page.

Mr. Page was the last witness at the 11-day retrial and the only witness in the defense case.

He gave only 20 minutes of testimony via AVL, where he told the court that he had met the woman three times before September 30, 2018.

On that day – the same day she claims to have been sexually assaulted by Mr Hayne – the woman was in ‘constant’ contact with the man as he lunched and dined with friends.

Mr Hayne pleaded not guilty to two counts of non-consensual intercourse related to the oral and digital penetration of the then 26-year-old woman.

He is accused of ripping off the woman’s pants before allegedly performing oral and digital sexual acts on her without her consent, causing cuts and significant bleeding.

Mr Hayne claims they committed consensual sex acts, but the jury favored his accuser.

The big difference in this trial was that Mr. Page was a new witness.

During his testimony, Mr. Page told the court that he shared screenshots of the conversations he had with the woman with his roommate, thinking it was “a joke.”

Defense attorney Margaret Cunneen SC took the witness through screenshots of the exchange, as the jury heard the prosecution send him a message saying “you made me feel fucking awful today, goodbye” with a waving emoji.

When the man was asked why he would receive such messages, he said, “I didn’t want to see her.”

Ms Cunneen said the woman then wrote: ‘Go talk to me or I won’t … at least answer me and stop being ad**k’.

The defense attorney asked why the woman wrote that.

“Before that message she said if I didn’t visit her she would send for Jarryd Hayne,” the man told the court.

The jury was told that Mr. Page then wrote to the woman, ‘You really lost me with Jarryd. Hayne is your side boy.”

Ms. Cunneen told the jury that the woman denied that Mr. Hayne was her “side boy.”

‘He isn’t. He contacted me last night and asked for my number and called me, I said no to him,” the text to Mr. Page said.

Mr Page said he didn’t speak to the woman again that day, but she continued to send further messages saying, “You said maybe, so I’m asking aren’t you?” I feel like a goddamn idiot, are you coming over?’

Another message said, “K, if we don’t keep talking I’m going to say yes to Jarryd Hayne coming here to hang out when he’s done with his friends; otherwise I won’t let him in.’

“Omg (sic) give me his signature cutie xx,” Mr. Page replied before saying, “I never said I’d come over.”

The woman then wrote, “You’re an asshole, don’t talk to me again.”

Mr Page told the court he was joking in the last text message he sent because he didn’t take the woman seriously.

He described her as “aggressive.”

“All I can remember was that she felt like she was being aggressive and she was messaging me non-stop while talking to herself,” Mr Page said.

The jury was told that the woman had sent another six messages to Mr. Page.

She kept asking if he would come over before saying “stop talking to me altogether” and calling him a jerk.

The woman also said his lack of response “upset” her and “made me feel so down.”

“You said maybe so I’m asking if you aren’t,…I feel like a fucking idiot…are you coming over…k(sic)…if we don’t keep talking I’m going to say yes to Jarryd’, read more posts.

Mr Page told the court the messages were spread over many hours, from before lunch until about 8pm.

He told the court that the last message would have been received around 8 p.m.

The jury was previously told that Mr Hayne arrived at the woman’s home at 9:07 pm.

Ms Cunneen told the court that Mr Page’s evidence only came to light when he contacted Mr Hayne’s legal team at a previous trial.

The court heard that police were unaware of the woman’s exchange with Mr Page during their initial investigation into the alleged assault.

Mr Page only made a statement to the police in March this year.

In his closing remarks, Crown Prosecutor John Sfinas said the jury “knows little” about Mr Page’s evidence, as the woman has always been “outspoken” about her intentions with Mr Hayne.

Sfinas said the woman was willing to say no to Mr. Hayne to see Mr. Page.

‘What does she say about the suspect? In response to ‘You really lost me with Jarryd, is Hayne your sideboy,’ she says, ‘He’s not, he contacted me last night… I said no,'” Mr. Sfinas told the jury.

“The crown says this is conclusive evidence…she wasn’t totally obsessed or determined to see the suspect.”

Mr Sfinas told the court that the woman ‘showed a certain indifference, a preference to spend time with someone else’.

While the woman was open to the possibility of having sex with Mr Hayne, Mr Sfinas told the court there were “defining moments” that “dissolved the possibility.”

But Ms Cunneen said in her closing speech that it was the woman’s attempt to “curate” the evidence in her favour.

“She is collecting the evidence to support herself in this case,” she told the jury.

You may be very concerned that this fabrication of the evidence will affect your assessment of her ability to fill in the blanks, or omit material, or provide the evidence that she believes will help her in this case. ?’

She said police at the court were “never aware” of any communication the woman had with Mr Page and another woman leading up to the alleged incident.

Ms Cunneen said it was an area of ​​evidence that the ‘police had no idea’ until previous court proceedings.

“Mr Hayne was charged, the criminal trial took place from 2018 as the productive years of his career faded,” she said.

“A few years later, it turns out that this chronology we have here was originally much shorter in three very different respects.”

She said police never knew of any communication the woman had with another man, indicating her “state of mind.”

“You can see that in the end she deliberately put together the material she gave to the police,” Ms Cunneen said.

“If Mr. Hayne had committed these horrible crimes, why would she delete all these messages?”

Mr Hayne was found guilty after the jury deliberated for six days.