Jarryd Hayne’s rape victim breaks silence in harrowing statement to the court
Jarryd Hayne’s rape victim has broken her silence, revealing the ‘never-ending nightmare’ of her attacker’s actions.
In a devastating victim impact statement read to NSW District Court by Crown Prosecutor John Sfinas on Monday, the disgraced football star victim revealed how her life had been destroyed by the September 2018 rape.
“I still don’t know how to put this into words,” she wrote.
“From September 30, 2018, my life launched into what feels like a never-ending nightmare.”
Jarryd Hayne arrives for his NSW Supreme Court hearing last month. He was denied bail and jailed
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said her nerves were shattered by the lengthy process.
“Anytime I feel like I’m starting to recover mentally, another lawsuit arises and I’m right back where I started,” she wrote.
She added: “September will mark five years since this happened. I was a 26-year-old with the world at her feet. I’m 31 now and haven’t finished university yet.’
She said she was left “insecure in my body,” adding that she was “damaged” by Hayne’s actions.
“I’m stronger, I’m wiser, but I’m damaged and I’ll never be the same person again.”
Hayne sported a beard and wore prison green and drank from a plastic water bottle as the judge heard his lawyer’s arguments.
At one point, he leaned over and whispered to his defense team. The court also heard mitigating factors presented by Hayne’s attorney, Margaret Cunneen SC.
“It weighs very heavily on Mr. Hayne what his wife and family are going through,” she said.
Ms Cunneen said his wife, Amellia Bonnici, who was assisting him during his trial, was not present at the hearing because of the intense media attention.
“What she has had to endure from the media is so bad that she has chosen not to attend today,” she said.
She added, “The media is extremely negative and the social media is terrible.”
But NSW District Court judge Graham Turnbull SC interrupted to say he had seen one of the children ‘in the arms of the perpetrator in their home environment’.
Ms Cunneen revealed that Hayne is being held at Silverwater’s MRRC Prison in a three-foot-by-four-foot cell.
“Instead of an hour a day, he’s only allowed out of our 15 or 20 minutes a day,” she said.
‘He can’t even go to the hairdresser because he’s not allowed to hang out with anyone.
The defense attorney revealed that his wife visited him twice with their youngest child, but the other children were kept away.
Bonnici, the wife of Jarryd Hayne, left court last month surrounded by seven sheriffs and was led to a black car waiting outside. She sobbed and hugged the convicted rapist before he was led away
“Efforts are being made to hide from them the nature of his absence from the family,” she said.
Ms Cunneen argued that Hayne’s crimes were less serious because there was no penile penetration.
But Judge Turnbull said, “It’s bad enough, if I may say so. That’s why nobody talks about anything but a full-time prison.’
The court has received character references from Hayne’s wife, sister and four other people.
He had seven friends and relatives who came to support Hayne in court. The judge will impose a sentence on Friday at 10 a.m.
The court was told that the sentence would be applied retroactively to take into account the time he had already spent behind bars.
After five years, three trials, an appeal and nine months in prison, Hayne was found guilty in April of sexually assaulting the woman at her Newcastle home in 2018.
A higher court had previously rejected Judge Turnbull’s decision to release Hayne on bail to help his family sort through his impending prison sentence.
Justice Richard Button said Hayne had ‘committed extremely serious sex offences’ and described the initial decision to release him as one that was ‘remarkable in my opinion’.
Judge Button said Hayne had “no special or exceptional logistical difficulties” to avoid immediate detention, although he noted there would be difficulties for his family.
He said that ‘when a loved one is imprisoned (it) causes immense heartache’.
Hayne was taken from court to jail while his wife Amellia Bonnici sobbed.
She hugged her husband for several minutes and repeatedly told him she loved him as a corrective officer waited to take the ex-football player away.
The pair put their heads together. After one last hug, Hayne cried and wiped his eyes before being taken to the cells to wait for a prison van to take him to custody.