Jarryd Hayne ‘a nightmare to deal with’ say prison staff as the fallen NRL star walks free after his rape convictions are overturned

EXCLUSIVE

Jarryd Hayne wasn’t the only one who was relieved when he left prison on Wednesday night; some of the fallen NRL star’s jailers were also glad he was gone.

Hayne was released from the Mary Wade Correctional Center in Lidcombe in Sydney’s west shortly before 5pm after being granted bail after his rape convictions were quashed.

A source familiar with the minimum security prison, which was previously a women’s prison and before that a juvenile detention center, said Hayne had a reputation as an arrogant inmate.

“He’s just constantly rude to the staff and a bit of a nightmare to deal with,” the source said. “I think the staff will be cheering today.”

Hayne’s rape conviction was quashed by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday morning and he was granted bail early in the afternoon.

Jarryd Hayne wasn’t the only one who was relieved when he left prison on Wednesday night; some of the fallen NRL star’s jailers were also glad he was gone. He is pictured leaving the Mary Wade Correctional Center in Sydney’s west on Wednesday evening

The Director of Public Prosecutions will now have to decide whether the 36-year-old should stand trial for a fourth time.

Hayne had been behind bars since April 2023 when a jury found him guilty of two charges of sexual intercourse without consent with a woman in Newcastle six years ago.

Before being transferred to Mary Wade, Hayne was housed at the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center in Sydney’s northwest.

While there, he made headlines by joining other inmates to help when an inmate collapsed during a football match after suffering a heart attack.

Corrective Services officers performed CPR and saved the life of the stricken inmate.

During a previous stint in custody at Cooma Correctional Center in the state’s south, Hayne was defrauded out of $780,000 worth of Bitcoin by another inmate.

A week after Hayne was first jailed in May 2021, he was pelted with apples by inmates at Parklea Correctional Center in Sydney’s northwest.

The fruit was thrown through a steel fence that separated Hayne from the general prison population and missed its target. Hayne was released from the Mary Wade Correctional Center in Lidcombe in Sydney’s west shortly before 5pm after being granted bail after his rape convictions were quashed.

Hayne was released from the Mary Wade Correctional Center in Lidcombe in Sydney’s west shortly before 5pm. He is pictured outside court with his wife Amellia Bonnici after being found guilty of rape in April last year

A source familiar with the Mary Wade Correctional Center, which was previously a women’s prison and before that a juvenile detention center, said Hayne had a reputation as an arrogant inmate.

Hayne has been tried three times in the NSW District Court on the rape allegations.

His first trial resulted in a hung jury in December 2020 and the second ended with convictions in March 2021, which were overturned on appeal in February 2022.

A jury in the third trial returned guilty verdicts in April 2023 and a month later Judge Graham Turnbull sentenced Hayne to a minimum of three years in prison.

On Wednesday, these convictions were quashed because Judge Turnbull erred in not allowing the rape complainant to be questioned further at trial.

The judge also found that the judge had not properly informed the jury about how to deal with allegations that the complainant had lied.

A third ground of appeal, which argued that the now quashed guilty verdicts were unsafe or unreasonable, was not accepted.

The former Parramatta Eels full-back appeared in court via audio-visual link, wearing a green tracksuit and with a tired expression on his face as he awaited the outcome of his case.

Wednesday’s verdict was greeted with celebration by Hayne’s supporters.

“He’s just constantly rude to the staff and a bit of a nightmare to deal with,” the source said. “I think the staff will be cheering today.” Hayne is pictured leaving jail on Wednesday

Hayne’s first trial resulted in a hung jury in December 2020 and the second ended with convictions in March 2021, which were overturned on appeal in February 2022.

Daniel Son, the double Dally M winner’s close friend, shared an Instagram image with the caption: ‘You f***en’ beauty’.

Three separate criminal cases were told the rape complainant changed her mind about having sex with Hayne on the night of the 2018 NRL Grand Final after realizing a taxi was waiting outside her house.

Hayne’s barrister, Tim Game SC, told his hearing in April that the woman had deleted messages between herself and Hayne which showed she had initially shown sexual interest in him.

The footballer’s defense team also argued that the woman should have been cross-examined about why she allegedly told police: ‘If that word gets out I will be devastated and he will go away.’

During the third trial, the woman sent messages to a man in the hours before the incident with Hayne.

In one message, the woman said: ‘If we don’t keep talking I’m going to say yes to Jarryd’ as she came to her house.

The messages were only revealed when that man contacted Hayne’s lawyers.

Hayne has been tried three times in the NSW District Court on the rape allegations. He is pictured leaving Mary Wade Correctional Center on Wednesday

The complainant messaged another woman on the same day she met Hayne, saying the footballer was ‘going down on her’, but did not say this was without consensual.

The court was told the complainant had listened to Hayne’s previous appeal in 2021 and had contacted a social media friend on Facebook the same day.

“I hope this was worth it for you,” the message read.

“The pain I have endured through all of this is unfathomable. I never lied. I never did anything to you and you writing something to JH about me having him here is no excuse for what happened.

“I didn’t tell you because it was disgusting and confusing to me. When he gets out, you can thank yourself. This is the hardest and most painful thing I have ever experienced and you can thank yourself for helping someone at fault.”

Hayne’s lawyers tried to rely on the messages to suggest the victim “deliberately concealed her communications because… they did not support her version of what happened and subsequently (potentially) sought to influence her evidence.”

Judge Turnbull had rejected requests for cross-examination from the woman about the statement, saying it had “almost infinite weight”.

Hayne played 214 NRL games for Parramatta (191) and the Gold Coast (23) between 2006 and 2018, as well as 23 State of Origin games for NSW (2007-2017) and 11 Tests for Australia (2007-2003).

He had a stint in the NFL as a running back with the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 and missed selection for Fiji’s rugby sevens team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.