Disgraced former NRL star and convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne has lost his career and legacy forever, and his freedom for the next two years.
It was his own fault, the consequence of having sexual intercourse without consent, a judge said on Friday.
A jury found Hayne guilty of two charges in April. He maintains his innocence, has shown no contrition or remorse, or accepted responsibility for the crimes he committed on NRL grand final night 2018.
His lawyers plan to appeal.
The 35-year-old’s conviction constitutes a “plummet” from his position as a famous footballer celebrated for his sporting achievements and community contributions, NSW District Court Judge Graham Turnbull said.
Athletically, if not academically gifted, Hayne enjoyed a stellar footballing career after deciding at 15 it was the only way out of his disadvantaged single-parent upbringing in housing commissions.
He was elite in the NRL during 214 games, the only fullback crowned its best player in two seasons, as well as representing Australia and Fiji and NSW in 23 State of Origin games.
None of those facts matter now and he will not be remembered for them.
The NRL is considering stripping accolades and the notion he could be removed from the records is “significant”.
“And again, a consequence of his own offending,” the judge said, jailing Hayne for four years and nine months with a non-parole period of three years.
Hayne was about a foot taller, weighing more than double the woman he assaulted with his hands and mouth in her suburban Newcastle home after he “reefed” her pants away in one go as she told him “no” three or four times, Judge Turnbull said.
“His preparedness to utilise ultimately the complainant as some kind of sexual object is a matter of significance.”
The pair cleaned off blood in her ensuite before Hayne returned to a taxi he paid $550 to drive him to Sydney.
Before the assault, when she learned the taxi was waiting, her “heart dropped” and she felt “he’d only come there for one thing”, telling her mother “there’s no way I’m about to have sex with him”.
The woman cannot be identified, but in a statement read to the court on Monday, said her life has been “launched into what feels like a never-ending nightmare” in the almost five years since.
“I am stronger and I am wiser but I am damaged and I won’t ever be the same person,” she wrote.
She stood up for herself and stood by her obligation to the community to bring a criminal to justice, Judge Turnbull said, while struggling with her own conflicting feelings, “sick” at the thought of “taking away someone’s daddy”.
“Perhaps the most significant insight … is her generosity in feeling for others, when that night her feelings were disregarded,” the judge said.
He noted conflicting feelings were common for complainants and operated as “a handbrake on the detection and determination of sexual offending”.
Outside court, officer-in-charge Detective Inspector Eugene Stek told reporters her resolve could send a message to complainants shining a light on other offenders.
“She’s certainly much braver than she believes, she’s certainly much stronger than she seems and she’s certainly much smarter than she thinks,” he said.
The judge thought it unlikely Hayne would reoffend, lacking risk factors typically identified in sex offenders, being committed to his family and religion and taking steps to address past misuse of alcohol and cocaine.
His sentence is backdated to May 7, 2022 because of previous time in custody and other factors including onerous custodial conditions during the pandemic.
He spent nine months in jail before verdicts were overturned, requiring his third trial.
The first trial’s jury could not reach a verdict.
He will be eligible for parole on May 6, 2025.
“Say no more,” Hayne said as he was taken off the court’s screen post-sentencing.
© AAP 2023
