Jarryd Hayne is set to walk free from prison after being granted bail after having his sexual assault convictions quashed.
The former NRL superstar appeared via videolink before Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday morning in a bid to be granted bail after a win in the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.
Hayne has been in prison since May last year after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at her Newcastle home on NRL grand final night in 2018.
The former Dally M winner and ex-NFL convert has sat in Cooma Correctional Centre for the last nine months.
However, he on Monday had his convictions quashed after the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled the judge who presided over his trial delivered flawed directions to the jury.
Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and Justices Ian Harrison and Helen Wilson quashed his convictions and ordered he face a retrial, while his legal team were fighting to have him acquitted.
He has so far faced two trials over the allegations, the first in late 2020 resulting in a hung jury.
Judge Christopher O‘Brien on Tuesday granted Mr Hayne bail on a string of conditions including he live with his wife and pay a $20,000 surety.
Following a second in March last year, a jury took three days to deliberate and find him guilty of two counts of sexual assault.The District Court is experiencing long delays in matters proceeding to trial because of a backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning there could be a lengthy wait before he returns to court.
It also remains to be seen a the trial would be held.
His first trial was held in Newcastle, where the alleged offence occurred, while a second was held in Sydney.
A District Court jury in March last year found the former Parramatta Eels superstar guilty of two counts of sexual assault, accepting the woman’s version of events that he performed digital and oral sex on her without her consent.
Hayne has maintained the encounter was consensual and any injuries were accidental.
The woman claimed in court she never consented to sex and send Hayne messages after he left her house saying “I didn’t want to do that”.
He was charged with aggravated sexual assault in November 2019.
A jury in March last year found the former Parramatta Eels superstar guilty of two counts of sexual assault, accepting the woman’s version of events that he performed digital and oral sex on her without her consent.
He was subsequently sentenced by Judge Helen Syme to five years and nine months jail, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
Hayne immediately launched an appeal against his conviction, claiming the NSW District Court jury was given flawed directions and the verdicts were unreasonable because of inconsistencies in the evidence.
The former NRL star successfully appealed on two of the four grounds on which he relied.
His barrister Tim Game argued that the jury was given directions that were “flawed in almost every possible way” before they were sent to deliberate.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will now have to decide whether to pursue a third trial on the chance the jury will find Hayne guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Any decision on whether to pursue a third trial will rest with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
There is also a chance Hayne’s lawyers and the prosecution make a deal to avoid going back to trial, such as pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Both sides are expected to undergo negotiations this week after Hayne’s bail hearing
Hayne has persistently maintained his innocence – stating so after he was in March found guilty by a jury.
“I‘d rather go to jail knowing I spoke the truth than be a free man living a lie,” Hayne said at the time.
During a sentence hearing in May he again reiterated his innocence, saying: “I didn’t do it.”
The NRL has said it will make a decision on whether to take back Hayne’s Dally M medals after the outcome of his court proceedings.
Source: foxsports.com.au