Jarryd Hayne’s lawyer has become embroiled in a heated LinkedIn row, launching an extraordinary attack on his rape accuser and defending the rugby league star’s character.
Margaret Cunneen SC shared a celebratory photo of Hayne, 36, with his wife Amellia Bonnici and lawyer Lauren McDougall on LinkedIn last week, showing the group posing in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
In her caption, Ms Cunneen celebrated “finally getting justice” – after the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his rape conviction – and described the released former Parramatta Eels star as a “fine and decent man”.
But that did not go down well with some members of Cunneen’s professional network. Another experienced lawyer, former attorney Michael McDonald, protested angrily at the veteran lawyer’s characterization of Hayne.
Mr McDonald said he was pleased Hayne’s ‘appeal had been upheld and he hoped the prosecution against him was finally over.’
But, he added: ‘With all due respect, ‘decent and decent’ men do not engage in the kind of behaviour that Jarryd Hayne engaged in.’
Mrs Cunneen responded: ‘You don’t know what happened’.
She then claimed the footballer’s trousers were unopened during his fateful encounter with his female accuser in New Lambton, Newcastle, in 2018.
Senior Sydney barrister Margaret Cunneen SC shared this photo of Jarryd Hayne, his wife Amellia Bonnici (centre) and barrister Lauren McDougall last week. Her description of the ex-footballer as a ‘nice and decent man’ irritated
Hayne (above, with his wife Amellia) faced three rape charges and 23 months in prison until he was released last month when his most recent convictions were quashed
Mr McDonald referred to Haynes’s behaviour that night, which led to him being charged with rape.
Hayne’s criminal trial was as follows: He paid a taxi driver $550 to wait 46 minutes while he entered a house to have sex with a young woman.
The encounter resulted in three rape cases, two convictions and 23 months in prison. Both convictions were eventually overturned, the last one last month.
One of the three NSW Criminal Court of Appeal judges who heard Hayne’s appeal, Justice Deborah Sweeney, opposed retrying the case, saying a fourth trial would “not be in the interests of justice”.
The Public Prosecution Service decided on June 25 not to hold a fourth trial.
Mrs Cunneen specifically thanked Judge Sweeney in her photo and said Hayne was celebrating ‘justice at last’.
But she struck a different tone with Mr. McDonald. “You didn’t see (the plaintiff’s) nails – filed to points bigger than a bishop’s miter. Total 2 years? Please.”
During Hayne’s trial, it was alleged that the woman was bleeding after the sexual encounter. When she texted her that she was “in a lot of pain,” Hayne replied, “Go to the doctor tomorrow.”
Mr McDonald then replied: ‘My comment is two sentences, let me reverse the order’.
‘To be clear, his prosecution was an unmitigated disgrace and, as in the case of the late Cardinal Pell, I was confident that he would ultimately be acquitted on appeal.
“But in my humble opinion, a ‘fine and decent man’, especially one who is married and a father, would not have put himself and his relationship with his wife and children in the position that Jarryd did.”
Hayne was not married to Amellia Bonnici in September 2018 when the 26-year-old woman who accused him of raping her in Newcastle alleged she had been sexually assaulted. However, they were already an affair.
Amellia Bonnici married Jarryd Hayne in a ceremony attended by 50 family and friends, including former NRL teammates on Australia Day 2021
While most commenters on the LinkedIn post expressed support for Ms Cunneen, a second LinkedIn user was also irritated by the way Hayne was portrayed as “fine and decent”.
“As much as I respect you Margaret, I think Jarryd is guilty in some way. He bribed a girl in the (United) States to do similar things and you should not be punished twice for this,” wrote James Hanrahan, a professional cleaner for Sydney Trains.
Mr Hanrahan referred to the civil lawsuit brought by an American plaintiff against Hayne in California for rape, which was settled in 2019 with a payment of just under $100,000.
The young American woman, known only as JV, accused Hayne of sexually assaulting her in 2015 in San Jose, during his NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers.
JV claimed that she was drunk at the time of the alleged incident and that she was a Christian and a virgin saving herself for marriage.
Ms Cunneen also hit back at that report. ‘He settled a ridiculous claim to save money in a CIVIL case.
“The prosecutors knew that was unfounded. Do you even understand that in the Newcastle case he never unzipped his pants?”
The LinkedIn spat between Ms Cunneen and Mr McDonald is above
Hayne and his wife Bonnici reportedly met via Instagram in early 2016, when he was playing for the Gold Coast Titans.
A few weeks later, Mrs. Bonnici was pregnant with the couple’s first child, daughter Beliviah Ivy.
Hayne had only recently returned from his spell with the 49ers in the US and signed a $1 million-a-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans.
The couple got engaged in late 2020 and married the following year on Australia Day in front of 50 family and friends, including former NRL teammates.
Daily Mail Australia has been forced to blur the photo of Ms Bonnici, taken by Cunneen, due to an extraordinary court order banning the publication of any images of Haynes’ wife after May 12, 2023.
The unusual court order has no expiration date.
Judge Graham Turnbull ordered the suppression of the sentence on the day he sentenced Hayne to a minimum of three years’ imprisonment following his third trial in the New South Wales District Court.
The order did not explain why it was made, but Judge Turnbull had heard evidence that Ms Bonnici had specific “health problems” and that her children had previously been photographed by the media.