Jarryd Hayne, former Australian rugby league international, jailed for sexual assault
Former Australian international rugby league player Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for five years and nine months after being found guilty of sexual assault.
Hayne, who is 33, was sentenced Thursday after being found guilty of “sexual intercourse without consent” in March.
A court heard that he attacked an unnamed 26-year-old woman at her home in Newcastle, Australia, in 2018. He will not be eligible for parole until 2025.
The New South Wales District Court confirmed the sentence to CNN.
The first jury in the case was discharged in December after failing to reach a verdict, CNN affiliate 7 News reported.
Hayne played rugby league at an international level, representing both Australia and his father’s country of birth, Fiji.
He played nearly 200 games for the Sydney-based rugby team Parramatta Eels and twice won the coveted Dally M Medal for player of the year, in 2009 and 2014.
He also had a brief spell in the NFL, joining the San Francisco 49ers for one season in 2015, before leaving to join Fiji’s rugby sevens team and then rejoining the Parramatta Eels. He left the team in 2018.
During the trial, the court heard that the incident took place after Hayne arrived, drunk, at the victim’s home following a stag party. He then performed two sex acts against her without her consent.
7 News reported Judge Helen Syme as saying Hayne was “fully aware” that the woman did not consent.
“I do not accept the offender did not know, or hear, that the victim did not want to have sex with him,” Syme said.
“He was fully aware the victim was not consenting and went ahead anyway.”
Hayne was found not guilty of two other charges of aggravated sexual assault without consent and inflicting actual bodily harm, 7 News reported.
The news outlet said on Friday that Hayne had lodged a notice of intention to appeal his conviction at the New South Wales Supreme Court.
He has 12 months to launch a formal appeal and will remain in jail through the process.
