Key Factors
- Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne will search to overturn a conviction of two counts of sexual activity with out consent.
- The 36-year-old was convicted over an incident at a girl’s residence close to Newcastle on 30 September 2018.
- Hayne’s legal professionals have argued that the sufferer engaged in “concealment of proof on a big scale”.
Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne is hoping to overturn a conviction for raping a girl on the night time of the 2018 grand ultimate as a second enchantment will get below means within the NSW Supreme Court docket.
Hayne’s legal professionals argued on Wednesday that textual content and social media messages deleted from the sufferer’s cellphone amounted to deliberate concealment of the information.
They requested the Court docket of Legal Attraction to acquit Hayne on these grounds, moderately than order the 36-year-old to face a fourth trial over the matter.
Hayne, who watched the enchantment listening to through a video hyperlink from jail, was discovered responsible on two counts of sexual activity with out consent over an incident at a girl’s residence close to Newcastle on 30 September 2018.
Earlier trials heard the lady, who can’t be recognized for authorized causes, modified her thoughts about having intercourse with Hayne after realising he had a taxi ready exterior the home.
Hayne’s barrister, Tim Recreation SC, instructed the appeals courtroom the defence had been unable to cross-examine the lady throughout the latest trial on information that may have been essential to the case.
Messages from the sufferer to a different girl she had met on social media didn’t comprise point out of a sexual assault and she or he due to this fact took actions to hide them, he stated.
Recreation argued failing to come back ahead with the messages amounted to “systematic curation of proof of fabric that did not help her case”.
“The issues she forgets are the issues that do not assist her,” he stated.
“On our case, it’s concealment of proof on a big scale.
“We are saying concealment, in fact, is similar as mendacity or deception.”
Jarryd Hayne arrives on the Supreme Court docket in Sydney on 14 April 2023. Supply: AAP / Bianca de Marchi
Crown prosecutors argued the sufferer didn’t have an in depth relationship with the lady she was messaging and had by no means met her in particular person.
Additionally they identified the lady appeared as a witness within the third trial and the jury was able to weigh her proof as they noticed match.
The truth that the sufferer had not instructed the lady she had been sexually assaulted “paled into insignificance” to the complaints she made to others, the courtroom heard.
She instructed a pal “I am too scared to report it” and requested her mom to not inform anybody as she didn’t need to be within the public eye.
She additionally mentioned the incident along with her GP at size and stated she didn’t need to go to police.
However Recreation stated the defence had been pressured to argue their case with “one hand or two arms tied behind their backs”.
Hayne’s defence crew additionally argued the lady needs to be cross-examined on why she allegedly instructed police, “if these message get out, I am f***ed and he’ll get off”.
Choose Graham Turnbull, who oversaw Hayne’s third trial, refused for the lady to be cross-examined on the assertion, saying it carried “nearly infinitesimal weight”.
Recreation argued the assertion was proof the lady appreciated the importance of the textual content messages and didn’t need them to get out.
Hayne was charged in November 2018 after the rape allegations reached the NRL’s integrity unit.
He has been behind bars since April 2023 after a jury dominated he sexually assaulted the lady utilizing his arms and mouth.
The responsible verdict adopted a hung jury in his first trial in 2020 and a earlier enchantment overturning the 2021 responsible verdict from his second trial.
If you happen to or somebody is impacted by sexual assault, name 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, textual content 0458 737 732, or go to . In an emergency, name 000.