Jarryd Hayne’s victim details devastating impact in front of his wife

Jarryd Hayne’s rape victim has told how the former NRL star “devastated” her life and says she came forward to give strength to other victims of sexual assault.

The woman, who cannot be named, delivered a powerful victim impact statement as she faced Hayne inside the Newcastle District Court before he was sentenced to at least three years and eight months jail.

Hayne had a dozen friends and family waiting to protect him from the rain and push away reporters as he arrived at the court.

The woman said the assault left her in a state of “devastation – mentally, physically socially and academically”

“No I didn’t scream, no I didn’t say come over for sex, no I didn’t provoke him,” she said.

“I’ve kept it together as best I can. I feel I’ve walked through fire.

“At the beginning of this someone said to me you may be scared, but you could be the key for other people who don’t feel strong enough.”

The woman, who was 26 at the time of the assault at her Newcastle home in September 2018, said that she had at times blamed herself for what had happened.

A jury in March found Hayne guilty of the sexual assault of the woman with the court previously hearing it was “inevitable” he would be jailed.

He was found not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.

Hayne has previously said he intends to appeal the guilty verdict.

“People talk about my vagina, my choices, and like to give their opinions based on what they’ve heard and it is the most helpless feeling,” the woman told the court.

“I know nothing will fully explain my feelings inside, but I can only try or I might regret it the rest of my life.”

She said it left her feeling “dirty and violated, like an object and he was looking straight through me”.

Hayne took the stand on Thursday where he continued to deny he performed oral and digital sex on the woman without her consent.

She said she had “spent countless hours crying” and that “the feeling of violation doesn’t go away”

She relived the moments after he left her house, laying on her bed, hugging her knees and “staring into nothing”.

She told the court she had experienced nightmares and flashbacks and at times couldn’t get out of bed because of depression and anxiety.

“I don’t remember the last time I had a proper night’s sleep,” she said.

It had fundamentally changed the direction of her life and she had not worked for six months, also being forced to put her study on hold, she said.

“The violation I experienced was the shameful feeling of letting someone I don’t know come into my home, was and is almost too hard to cope with,” she said. “I trusted him based on who I thought he was. He definitely was not.”

Hayne’s defence barrister, Richard Pontello SC, argued the one-time NFL convert had already suffered punishment after losing his job as an NRL player.

At the time, the Parramatta Eels had refused to renew his contract.

Hayne said he had agreed to a $500,000, one-year contract with St George Illawarra however the deal fell through when he was charged in November, 2018. He told the court he was set to meet with Dragons officials on the day he was charged and was expecting to sign the contract that day.

However crown prosecutor Brian Costello objected, asking Hayne what he expected the consequences to be if he was convicted of sexual assault. “What did you think would happen if you went out and committed an offence of sexual intercourse without consent in relation to your career?” Mr Costello asked.

“I didn’t do it,” Mr Hayne told the court.

“I didn’t think about doing something without consent.” The woman was left with two lacerations on her vagina, which bled profusely, following the assault.

During her evidence, she said she refused to consent to sex because the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside her Fletcher home.

Hayne had been in Newcastle for a two-day buck’s party and had stopped off after conversing with the woman over social media.

Hayne had organised to pay a cab driver $550 to take him back to Sydney.

The woman said when she heard the taxi beeping outside her bedroom window she resolved there was “no way” she was going to consent to sex. Hayne was drinking on the taxi ride to the woman’s house and left the empty bottle of a premixed alcoholic drink on the letterbox on his way to the door. During the trial, Hayne gave evidence that he went into the woman’s bedroom and lay on her bed where he attempted to “break the ice” by singing along to some of his “go-to” songs on YouTube, including an Ed Sheeran cover of Oasis’s Wonderwall.

According to the woman’s evidence, he forcibly kissed her and pushed her head into the pillow.

The woman did not immediately go to police, and an investigation only began when her brother-in-law phoned a journalist, who advised the family to contact the NRL integrity unit. Hayne will eligible for parole in January 2025. whatever you do in life,” he added.