League: Jarryd Hayne's accuser speaks out

Jarryd Hayne. Photo / Getty

The woman accusing Australian football star Jarryd Hayne of rape has spoken out through her lawyer.

The woman, identified only as Ms V, said she was abstaing from sex until marriage and had her decision taken out of her hands by the 29-year-old during the alleged encounter in 2015 when he was pursuing a career in the NFL.

"The fact is that this woman, because of her religious and moral beliefs, saved herself (for marriage) into her mid-20s and had the decision taken from her," lawyer Micha Star Liberty told Fairfax Media.

"That will have a huge impact on her and her psyche," she said. "I think it's something she is going to struggle with for the rest of her life."

Hayne has denied the allegation.

Police dropped Hayne's unrelated case for lack of evidence but the 29-year-old is now being pursued civilly.

The woman accusing Hayne filed a lawsuit alleging the NRL star raped her after a gathering with mutual friends in a San Jose, California, bar in December 2015. The woman alleged she was heavily intoxicated when Hayne took her to his home "despite having minimal interaction that night."

The woman claims in the lawsuit that she recalled little about that night but woke the next morning, naked and draped in a sheet in Hayne's bed. She said she had never had sexual intercourse before that night but was fearful of going to police because of Hayne's prominence.

After a standout preseason with the 49ers, Hayne made the team as a punt returner and reserve running back. He played eight games that season and has since returned to Australia where he plays for the Parramatta Eels, where he starred before his stint with the 49ers.

The woman wasn't identified in the lawsuit.

Hayne's Australian lawyer Ramy Qutami said in a prepared statement that Hayne "unequivocally and vehemently" denies any wrongdoing. Qutami said that Hayne cooperated with a police investigation at the time.

Santa Clara County prosecutors declined to charge Hayne because of a lack of evidence after the encounter was reported to police three months later. The woman is represented by John Clune, a Boulder, Colorado, attorney who has represented several women who have accused professional and college athletes of sexual abuse. Clune was involved in the settlement of a lawsuit alleging rape against retired Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Clune's firm has also sued several universities alleged to have been financially responsible for college athletes assaulting women.