Former Kangaroos star Hayne found guilty of sexual assault

Jarryd Hayne.
Photo: Photosport

Former Australia rugby league international Jarryd Hayne was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman after a third trial jury, which deliberated for more than a week, reached a verdict on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old, who also had a brief stint in the National Football League (NFL) with the San Francisco 49ers, had pleaded not guilty to both assault charges at the New South Wales District Court.

Hayne, whose bail was continued, will be sentenced at a later date.

In 2021, Hayne was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail on the same charges but that conviction was overturned by the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal last year and a new trial ordered.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in 2020.

The assault occurred on a night in September 2018 when Hayne visited the woman, who he had met on social media, at her home in Newcastle after a friend’s bachelor party in the city two hours north of Sydney.

Hayne played nearly 200 games for the National Rugby League’s Parramatta Eels, winning the Dally M Medal, the code’s highest individual honour, in 2009 and 2014.

The Sydney-born fullback scored 11 tries in 11 appearances for Australia, helping the Kangaroos to win the Rugby League World Cup in 2013.

He won a contract as a running back and kick returner with the 49ers in 2015 but made three fumbles in four games before being waived.

Hayne was accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit brought by a woman in California in 2016 after police decided not to charge him over an alleged incident in 2015.

He said at the time he “unequivocally and vehemently” denied the allegations. The case was settled in 2019 before going to trial.

–Reuters