Jarryd Hayne leaves Sydney's Downing Centre District Court after being found guilty of sexual assault. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Jarryd Hayne leaves Sydney's Downing Centre District Court after being found guilty of sexual assault. Photo / NCA NewsWire
They're the covert police phone taps that helped convict Jarryd Hayne and now they can be reported for the first time.
The former NRL superstar's spectacular fall from grace was completed yesterday when he was told he was set to be jailed after being found guilty of sexual assault.
Duringthe course of his seven-day trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, the Crown prosecution played a series of phone calls to Hayne's phone in which he talked about the claims made against him by the woman he assaulted, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
While they were played to the court, they can only now be reported for the first time after Judge Helen Syme released them to the media.
A jury on Monday afternoon found Hayne guilty of sexually assaulting the woman when he performed oral and digital sex on her without her consent at her home on Newcastle's outskirts on September 30, 2018.
At one point, it appeared as if Hayne would be put in handcuffs and taken into custody after the jury's guilty verdict.
But after being granted bail, with a A$50,000 surety, Hayne emerged from Sydney's Downing Centre District Court with red eyes, hand-in-hand with his wife Amellia Bonnici, continuing to protest his innocence.
In the first call which was played to the court, NRL integrity unit chief investigator Karyn Murphy leaves a message on the former Parramatta and Gold Coast fullback's phone, telling him that she wanted to discuss something.
Murphy left the message on the afternoon of November 15 - about six weeks after the assault and after the victim's family had urged her to make a complaint to the NRL.
Several hours later, unknown to him, Hayne was caught by a police sting talking to an unnamed male about the allegations which were made to the governing body.
"That sheila went to the NRL," Hayne is heard saying.
"Yeah, [journalist Danny Weidler] messaged me, [journalist Phil Rothfield] was chasing Beave [Hayne's manager Wayne Beavis]."
Hayne goes on to tell the other man that the woman was a "weirdo" and "cuckoo".
Hayne will appear before a sentencing hearing at Newcastle District Court on May 6. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Then, two hours later, he receives a phone call from former NSW Origin teammate Mitchell Pearce, where they further discuss the allegations against him.
"You under the pump? ... Who's this sheila coming out saying something about ya?" Pearce asks Hayne.
Hayne gives Pearce the woman's name and asks if any of his Newcastle Knights teammates might know her.
The jury accepted the woman's evidence that she withdrew her consent for sexual activity because Hayne had a taxi waiting outside to take him back to Sydney.
"I was in Newie, I was like 'oh I'll pop in on the way home'," Hayne said.
"So I did that and then f***ing she was filthy cause the cab was out the front.
"I said 'oh well mate, I'm only going to be here for, you know, a short time'. She just wigged out. And then like I watched a bit of the grand final with her old girl."
The jury was played two more phone tapes, both of which came from one conversation with another unnamed male.
During the trial, crown prosecutor Brian Costello told the court that Hayne felt "entitled to just force himself upon her".
Costello then pointed to Hayne's comments in that conversation, during which he described the woman as a "young cow" and an "idiot".
"But you could tell she's f***ing mate, just a weirdo mate, you know a young cow just carrying on," Hayne tells the other man.
"Like she's f***ing texting me. I think she started to like me or something. Then because I brushed her, f***ing blowing up."
When the man asked if she had been texting him lately, Hayne replied: "Nah, after that night, like I was just like, whatever, bye.
"And then, umm, cause I didn't, you know what I mean. Like didn't really speak to her face, she was filthy."
He also added: "You know, you know, f***ing, you speak to them for a bit, they get attached and they think f***ing. Well mate you f***ing messaged me off Instagram, you idiot. Like Snapchat and that.
"And then 'cause I've flicked her, she's blown up."
Hayne said outside court on Monday that he will appeal against his conviction.
