Why 2024 could be former NRL star Jarryd Hayne’s toughest year yet

Disgraced former NRL superstar Jarryd Hayne sits in a prison cell contemplating the new challenges and possible heartbreak he will face in 2024.

As the 35-year-old approached a house on the outskirts of Newcastle on the evening of September 30, 2018, he had no idea the 46-minute encounter would result in him spending several years behind bars and away from his family.

Instead of spending the holiday period with his wife and children, he will be in his cell at the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre, a minimum security facility in Berkshire Park in Sydney's west.

It comes after he was convicted of assaulting a woman at her home during the 2018 NRL finals.

Now referred to as inmate 661736, Hayne spends his days isolated in a 10-by-12-foot cell, reading his Bible or walking outside.

The life of the former Dally M winner is a far cry from what life was like as a famous footballer who filled stadiums in both Australia and the US.

And in 2024, Hayne will face a number of new challenges, including a possible appeal against the verdict and a civil case brought by his victim in the NSW Supreme Court.

Hayne was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman without her consent by a jury of six men and six women after six days of deliberation following the 11-day trial at the NSW District Court.

A CIVIL COMBAT

Before the jury was empaneled on March 13, Crown prosecutor John Sfinas and barrister Margaret Cunneen SC underwent four days of pre-trial arguments before Judge Graham Turnbull.

During that time, the court was told Hayne's victim was suing him in the NSW Supreme Court for damages for her injuries.

Obviously she's asking for more than $750,000 because that's where the threshold for civil cases before the Supreme Court begins.

The civil claim was filed on August 4, 2021, after Hayne was convicted in his second trial.

However, it was stayed and a non-publication order was made at the 2023 trial, but the jury was told that the Statement of Claim had the same concerns as the criminal proceedings.

During the trial in March, Ms Cunneen told the jury the victim was 'trying to hide' the compensation claims.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had told a friend she 'didn't want any money' in the days after the assault.

Ms Cunneen told the jury in her closing arguments during the trial that the woman initially did not want to go to the police because “she knew no crime had been committed”.

“But this train, this accelerating train that starts when someone gets wind of an allegation of sexual assault, is very difficult to get off. It's very difficult to change your mind and say, 'Oh well, I was wrong about that,'” Ms Cunneen said in March.

“The accelerating train has continued on with a civil claim… and (the woman) in this court tried to hide behind lawyers (when questioned) when the fact of the matter is that the complaints in that civil claim are false.”

During pre-trial arguments, Judge Turnbull told the court that on the day of the appeal for Hayne's previous trial, November 29, 2021, the victim had watched the proceedings via AVL.

After seeing text messages from a man she spoke to on the same day as Hayne, which were used in the appeal, the court was told the woman went to the man's apartment angrily.

The court was told the victim banged on the door and said: 'You have ruined my profession'.

Police were called and the court was told the woman told a police officer: 'If those reports come out I'm f*cked and he'll go away.'

When Ms Cunneen made the argument, when the woman said: 'I'm damned', she was referring to her civil claim and Hayne's possible acquittal.

A POSSIBLE PROFESSION

Following his conviction by the jury, both Hayne and Ms Cunneen indicated outside court that they would appeal the verdict.

Moments after learning his fate and walking out of court hand-in-hand with his wife Amellia Bonnici, Hayne held back tears as he told the media he “continues to stand for the truth.”

When asked if he maintained his innocence, he said “100 percent.”

“I never lied to the police, I never deleted evidence, I never hid witnesses. Do the math,” Hayne said at the time, indicating he would appeal.

When asked if he thought he had received a fair trial, he declined to comment.

'Did I lie? Did I lie? That is factual evidence,” he said.

Lawyers representing Hayne have filed a notice of intent to appeal the guilty verdict in the following days, meaning the appeal is officially open.

It is not yet known when the appeal will be heard in the NSW Supreme Court.

FALL FROM GRACE

The former Dally M winner drunkenly approached the front door of a Fletcher home at 9:07 p.m.

When he came out less than an hour later, Hayne left a young woman in her room with blood on her bedspread and painful wounds.

The incident led to him being sent to prison for the second time.

Hayne was a household name and started his career in the first grade with the Parramatta Eels in 2006.

But his popularity only peaked in 2014 when it was revealed he would be leaving the NRL and months later he signed for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL.

Hayne would only last one season, during which he was accused of making an American woman bleed after an alleged sexual assault in December 2015.

The woman filed a civil case against Hayne in 2017 — his first — because there wasn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges. Hayne settled for almost $100,000 in 2019.

Throughout his career, Hayne represented NSW at State of Origin 23 times, while also playing 21 times for Australia and Fiji at test level.

Now a household name for several reasons, Ms Cunneen told the court at Hayne's hearing that he had suffered an 'extraordinary loss to a great rugby career'.

“In this case it was the loss of an extremely lucrative contract under circumstances that left him publicly vilified throughout the milestones that have occurred since the commission of the crimes,” she said.