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From a prodigious rugby league star to a convicted sex offender, the contrast between Jarryd Hayne’s former life and his new reality could not be starker.
The 33-year-old has spent his first night in a prison cell after being handed a sentence of five years and nine months for sexually assaulting a woman on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
Prior to the dramatic fall from grace, Hayne was a lauded Parramatta Eels fullback and dual Dally M medallist who once stood to earn more than $2 million on a contract spanning multiple seasons.
A high-profile switch of codes and countries saw him try his hand at the NFL in America, debuting with the San Francisco 49ers in September 2015.
A night out at a San Jose bar following a game would later result in serious allegations against Hayne from a Californian woman he took home in an Uber.
AAP:Bianca De Marchi
)She made a report to police in May 2016, claiming she had been sexually assaulted while intoxicated.
Hayne denied the allegations.
When authorities failed to gather sufficient evidence for a criminal case, a civil case was launched accusing him of sexual battery, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
It was settled before trial on what were described as “mutually agreeable” but private terms.
AAP: Nicki Short
)Hayne returned to Australia and the NRL via the Gold Coast Titans before playing for Parramatta again in 2018.
It was in a lounge room on the outskirts of Newcastle that year that he watched the last minutes of the September grand final between the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm with the mother of a second woman who would accuse him of sexual assault.
Hayne had been on a two-day buck’s weekend and exchanged flirty social media messages with the then-26-year-old woman for about two weeks before he went to her house.
His detour there on the way back to Sydney, the prosecutor would tell his criminal trial, was for “one thing and one thing only”.
Getty Images
)Hayne denied two counts of sexual assault.
A jury in Newcastle last year was unable to reach a decision, but a retrial in Sydney in March resulted in a guilty verdict for both counts of sexual assault.
On the day of the verdict, Hayne was warned that imprisonment was “inevitable” as he faced a maximum penalty of 14 years behind bars.
With the writing firmly on the wall, he was granted several more months of freedom to get his affairs in order and spend time with his family on strict conditions, including a security deposit of $50,000.
Yesterday, in a Newcastle court, Hayne’s victim said the attack left her feeling “dirty, scared and ashamed”.
Judge Helen Syme accepted Hayne was “fully aware the victim was not consenting” and pointed out his “entitled behaviour” towards the young woman who’d simply turned down his sexual advances.
The judge took into account Hayne’s background of “childhood disadvantage” and charity work, also accepting he is “a loving, caring and responsible” father to his children.
Hayne has flagged an appeal and continues to deny wrongdoing.
That, Judge Syme noted, simply meant any finding of his prospects of rehabilitation should be “guarded”.
As he was led away from the courtroom to begin his sentence, one of his supporters yelled out: “I love you” and another commented: “You’re innocent.”
Hayne’s sentence is made up of two indicative terms of five years and three months — one for each count of sexual assault.
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