A woman who claims to have been sexually assaulted by Jarryd Hayne was texting another man the same day, telling him ‘if we’re not going to keep talking then I’ll say yes (to the NRL star)’, a court has been told.
Dally M winner, 35, faced the final day of evidence in his trial at the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to two counts of non-consensual sexual assault.
Hayne denies sexually assaulting the woman at her home on the outskirts of Newcastle in September 2018, the night of the NRL grand final, claiming they engaged in consensual sexual acts.
The former soccer star is accused of removing the woman’s pants before allegedly performing oral and digital sexual acts on her without her consent, causing cuts and considerable bleeding.
The two-week trial has entered its final stages, with the jury hearing a mountain of evidence over the past eight days.
NRL star Jarryd Hayne arrives at Downing District Court in Sydney on Thursday morning for his sexual assault trial
A man the woman was messaging on the day of the alleged incident gave testimony Thursday afternoon via AVL, telling the court that he shared screenshots of conversations with his roommate because he thought “it was a joke.” “.
The jury was told that the woman sent him a message on Sunday, September 30, saying “You made me feel fucking terrible today, bye” with a waving emoji.
Defense attorney Margaret Cunneen SC questioned why the man would receive such a message.
“I didn’t want to go see her,” he replied.
Ms Cunneen said the woman then wrote: ‘Are you going to talk to me, otherwise I won’t…at least answer me and stop being a jerk.’
The defense attorney asked why the woman wrote that.
“Before that message, she was saying that if I didn’t go see her, she would have Jarryd Hayne come over,” the man told the court.
The jury was told that he then wrote to the woman: ‘You honestly lost me on Jarryd Hayne is your date.’
Hayne’s alleged victim allegedly told a man he was “being a jerk” and that she would “say yes to Jarryd Hayne” if he didn’t come to her house.
The woman went on to ask if the man would come over before saying she felt “like a fucking idiot.”
She messaged again: ‘K (sic) if you’re not going to say yes then I’ll say yes to Jarryd Hayne.’
“OMG (sic) get me his signature babe xx,” the man replied before saying, “I never said I was coming.”
On Thursday he told the court that he did not take the woman seriously.
“I thought he was joking,” he said.
The woman said again that she felt like an idiot: ‘Are you coming?… I’m going to say yes to Jarryd… You don’t have to come here, it will take a long time… to be an idiot.’
‘You said maybe so I’m asking if you don’t…I feel like a fucking idiot…are you coming over…k (sic)…if we’re not going keep talking I’m going to tell him that yes to Jarryd’, read more messages.
Hayne (pictured playing for Parramatta in 2018) is on trial after pleading not guilty to two counts of non-consensual sexual assault.
The man told the court that the woman kept texting from before lunch until 8 p.m.
He said the messages were spread over many hours while he was having lunch and dinner with friends.
“All I can remember is feeling like she was being aggressive and just texting me and talking to herself,” he told the court.
The jury heard that the woman sent six more messages including ‘what have I done now?’, ‘you are an idiot’ and said she was ‘upset’.
The court was told that the man’s messages only came to light when he was in contact with Mr Hayne’s legal team during a previous trial.
Crown prosecutor John Sfinas began his closing speech on Thursday afternoon, telling the court the man’s evidence was “little” as the woman was “frank” about her intentions with Hayne.
Sfinas said that when the woman talked to the other man about seeing him, she was willing to say no to Hayne.
What does she say about the defendant? In response to ‘You honestly lost me on Jarryd Hayne is your date’, she says: ‘He’s not, he contacted me last night… I said no,’ Mr Sfinas told the jury.
“The crown says it’s convincing evidence…she wasn’t completely obsessed with the idea that she would see the defendant.”
Hayne’s legal team, including Margaret Cunneen SC (left), asked the investigating officer how he learned of a man’s messages with the alleged victim.
On Thursday, the court heard that the woman had deleted a bunch of messages from her phone, including those from the man above, as well as 19 with Mr Hayne.
The investigating officer took the witness stand Wednesday, where he revealed that “a large number of text messages” had been deleted from the woman’s phone before it was turned over to police.
The woman voluntarily handed over her phone to investigators in November 2018.
Lead Detective Eugene Stek told the court he was unaware the woman was texting another man on the same day she met Mr. Hayne.
‘At the beginning of the investigation, did you know about your communications with (the other man)?’ asked Mrs. Cunneen.
When he answered ‘no’, Ms Cunneen asked how he found out about them.
“I think in the first trial, it came up in the first trial,” Police Chief Stek told the court.
Ms Cunneen suggested that Mr Hayne’s legal team drew attention to the messages.
He continued: “In relation to the communications that he had with other people…they were much more extensive than I knew at the time this investigation began.”
The officer in charge conceded: ‘yes’.
“Even at the time he accused Mr Jarryd Hayne in 2018, he did not know about the (other) messages and communications,” Ms Cunneen asked.
“No,” Police Chief Stek replied.
Hayne’s trial before Judge Graham Turnbull continues (he is seen leaving court with his wife Amellia Bonnici on Wednesday)
The court heard that the alleged victim had also deleted a series of messages that she shared with Hayne.
The jury was told that the missing messages were later discovered by police during a forensic analysis of his phone through ‘Cellebrite’, or through Mr Hayne’s legal team at his first trial.
“May I suggest that around 19 messages to or from Mr. Hayne had been deleted on his phone when he gave it to the police?” questioned Mrs. Cunneen.
Detective Inspector Stek said it depended on the date of the forensic examination of the phone.
He admitted that a “large number of messages” had been deleted before the police received the phone.
“Had I told you about it or not, sir?” asked Mrs. Cunneen. Detective Inspector Stek replied: ‘no’.
The trial continues before Judge Graham Turnbull.