Fallen NRL star Jarryd Hayne to fight lawsuit from former rape accuser – after his rape convictions were overturned twice
- The case will be heard in the NSW Supreme Court
- Comes from rape accuser of ex-NRL star
- Hayne has always maintained his innocence
Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne will fight a lawsuit brought by his former rape accuser after he was acquitted of criminal charges over her claims.
The woman’s lawyer, Gerard Gooden, told a brief hearing in the New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday that the parties had agreed on a timetable for the case to proceed.
“The case was adjourned from last week to allow the parties to consider whether they wished to enter into informal settlement negotiations,” he told the court.
“That was rejected.”
Hayne was found guilty on two counts of raping a woman at her Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL final.
But a six-year legal battle ended in June when an appeals court overturned his latest convictions, despite the fact that he had already served a lengthy prison sentence.
The Attorney General’s Office later announced they would not be pursuing criminal charges against the 36-year-old former rugby league player, allowing the 2021 civil case to proceed.
In April 2023, a jury in Hayne’s third trial found him guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and he was sentenced to a maximum of four years and nine months in prison.
Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne will fight a lawsuit brought by his former rape accuser after he was acquitted of criminal charges over her claims
Hayne has always maintained his innocence and is adamant that the sexual encounter in 2018 was consensual
But the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed Hayne’s convictions on the grounds that a judge had erred in not allowing the prosecution to be questioned further during the trial.
During Hayne’s trial, the court was told the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, changed her mind about having sex with Hayne when she realised there was a taxi waiting outside her house.
Hayne’s overturned convictions followed a jury’s inconclusive verdict in his first trial in 2020 and an earlier appeal that overturned the 2021 guilty verdict in his second trial.
He has always maintained that he was innocent and that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Hayne played 11 games for Australia and 23 games for the NSW State of Origin team in a sporting career that also included a spell with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL.
The 33-year-old cross-country athlete was accused of sexual assault in 2015 in a separate incident while playing in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers.
The woman, identified only as JV, claims that after they met at a bar in California, Hayne took her home and raped her.
The case was eventually settled for nearly $100,000.