DISGRACED NRL star Jarryd Hayne should be acquitted of raping a woman in the Hunter in 2018 or a re-trial ordered due to "profound" errors in his trial and "problematic" directions given to the jury about his state of mind, the Court of Criminal Appeal heard on Monday.
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Hayne, now 33, was found guilty in March of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and later jailed for a maximum of five years and nine months, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
He is currently eligible for parole in January, 2025.
The former Dally M medal winner's convictions came after his first trial, in Newcastle District Court, ended in a hung jury and after the jury in his second trial acquitted him of two more serious counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent inflicting actual bodily harm.
Hayne has maintained his innocence and lodged an appeal against his convictions to the Court of Criminal Appeal, with defence barrister Tim Game, SC, on Monday outlining four grounds of appeal that he said, if upheld, would lead to Hayne being acquitted or a third trial ordered. Mr Game took aim at the oral and written directions provided to the jury about the crucial issue of Hayne's state of mind about whether or not the victim was consenting to sexual intercourse, calling the wording "troublesome", "problematic" and "profoundly wrong".
"These directions are actually flawed in every way except in the first words," Mr Game said. Other grounds of appeal deal with the admission of certain pieces of evidence, including messages between the victim and another person, and the replaying of a contentious part of the woman's evidence from the first trial. It is also argues the jury's verdicts were unreasonable.
Hayne and the victim connected on social media and arranged to meet up on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final. He made the taxi driver wait in front of her house while he went inside and forced himself on the woman, despite her telling him she was not interested in sex.
Judgment will be reserved and Hayne will learn his fate at a later date.