Jarryd Hayne was released from prison on Wednesday after his rape conviction was overturned in a landmark decision for the football superstar.
Hayne, 36, stood trial in May last year and received a jail term of four years and nine months for the alleged rape of a woman on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
The two-time Dally M winner has been through a six-year ordeal related to the matter, involving three criminal trials, two appeals and two stints behind bars.
He was granted bail on Wednesday afternoon and his lawyer Lauren MacDougall said: “He is looking forward to returning home to his family.”
But the prospect of a fourth trial still looms for Hayne as he awaits his next court date.
Jarryd Hayne had his rape conviction overturned on Wednesday
Prosecutors need time to consider holding a fourth trial before returning to court on July 26, and MacDougall declined to comment on the prospect of another trial as he left court with his client on Wednesday.
“Any decision regarding a possible new trial will be made in accordance with prosecutorial guidelines,” a spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.
The state’s highest court overturned Hayne’s convictions and ruled that the trial judge erred in not allowing further questioning of the complainant about her communications with third parties on the night of the alleged sexual assault.
The appeals court ruled that the judge failed to properly direct the jury regarding allegations by Hayne’s lawyers that the plaintiff had lied about the contact, exacerbating the earlier error by not allowing her to answer questions about it.
Hayne’s third ground of appeal, arguing that the now overturned guilty verdicts were unsafe or unreasonable, was not accepted, despite convincing a judge.
“I am of the opinion that there is a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted,” Judge Deborah Sweeney said in reasons released by the court.
But judges Stephen Rothman and Anthony Meagher overruled it.
Judge Meagher did not support any grounds of appeal.
“I am comfortably of the opinion that the jury had a chance of being satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt (Hayne) was guilty,” he said.
Two-time Dally M winner Hayne was jailed last year but successfully appealed
Former NRL superstar could be tried for a fourth time
Hayne was accused of raping a woman with his hands and mouth at his Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL Grand Final.
Three separate criminal trials were said the woman, who cannot be identified, changed her mind about having sex with Hayne after realizing he had a taxi waiting outside.
He was sentenced to four years and nine months in jail, but had already served some of that time before his previous successful appeal.
Judge Rothman said there were good reasons not to hold a fourth trial, noting it was unlikely to occur before Hayne’s three-year non-parole period expired in May 2025.
Judge Sweeney had a similar view given the history of the matter.
“Prosecuting (Hayne) for the fourth time would not be in the interest of justice,” he said.
Hayne’s lawyer, Tim Game SC, told the appeal hearing in April that messages the woman sent to Hayne and others, deleted from her phone, amounted to deliberate concealment of evidence.
The former player’s defense team argued that the woman should have been questioned about why she allegedly told police: “If those messages get out, I’m screwed and he’ll leave.”
Judge Graham Turnbull, who oversaw Hayne’s third trial in the New South Wales District Court, rejected calls for the woman to be questioned further, saying her early responses and eventual absence would not create any real injustice. .
But Judges Sweeney and Rothman ruled that Hayne’s lawyers should have been able to question the plaintiff further and the jury was left to consider her evidence and credibility.
Hayne’s overturned convictions followed a hung jury in his first trial in 2020 and an earlier appeal that overturned guilty verdicts from his second trial in 2021.
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National Support Service for Reparation and Sexual Abuse 1800 211 028
