Tense courtroom scenes where prosecutors claim Jarryd Hayne should be thrown in jail immediately – as he hides his face behind sunglasses and his wife looks stressed
- Jarryd Hayne faces jail time
- Prosecutors are calling for his immediate arrest
- Tense hearing two days after conviction for rape
Disgraced NRL star Jarryd Hayne has arrived at court to be taken to prison as prosecutors call for his immediate detention two days after he was convicted of two counts of rape.
Wearing a navy jacket and chinos, Hayne was joined by more than a dozen supporters in a packed courtroom, including his wife Amellia Bonnici who looked tense and anxious.
By 10:00 a.m., more than 20 Hayne supporters had forced their way into court, forcing the judge to place media in the jury box to make room.
The NRL star has been out on bail since a jury found him guilty of having sexual intercourse without consent from a 26-year-old woman at her Newcastle home in September 2018 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Dally M winner shook his head as the verdict was handed down and went over to his wife, who seemed inconsolable.
Immediately after the verdict, Hayne had tears in his eyes and said he was ‘devastated’ by the result, later protesting his innocence outside Sydney court.
“I stand for the truth,” he said, adding that he maintained his “100 percent” innocence.
Hayne pleaded not guilty to the charge and faces a maximum sentence of 14 years behind bars.
Jarryd Hayne arrives at court on Thursday for a warrant from prosecutors, two days after being convicted of rape
Tuesday’s verdict marked the end of Hayne’s third criminal trial – the first was in Newcastle in 2020 and ended in a hung jury.
He was convicted in a second trial in March 2021 and sent to prison for nine months until he successfully appealed the decision.
The third jury heard new evidence from a man who texted the victim the same day the crime was committed. They found Hayne guilty of performing oral and digital sex on the woman without her consent.
Jurors were told the woman refused to consent to sex on the night of 30 September 2018 because Parramatta’s ex-fullback had a taxi waiting outside.
Hayne had been in Newcastle for a two-day party and arranged for a $550 taxi driver to take him back to Sydney where he had an event to attend at midnight.
Jarryd Hayne (above with his wife Amellia Bonnici) faces prison after being found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent
He decided to “pop in” at the woman’s house on the way.
She gave him her address at around 7:30 p.m. and asked Hayne when he still hadn’t arrived an hour later, “Where are you silly?”
“It was up in the air, at best I’d have sex with her, at worst I’d just be introduced and that was it,” Hayne told the court in pre-recorded evidence.
Both Hayne and the woman agree that the footballer was trying to break the ice by asking to sing along and play songs from her laptop, the first being an Ed Sheeran cover of ‘Wonderwall’.
Things turned sour when the impatient taxi driver knocked on the door and asked for Hayne, who had told the taxi driver he was just passing by to ‘pick up a bag’.
The woman said when she heard the taxi beeping outside her bedroom window, she decided she would “no way” consent to sex.
Hayne’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC has indicated that she will appeal Hayne’s conviction as it was an unreasonable verdict as it did not reflect the evidence.