THE woman who was raped by Jarryd Hayne in the Hunter on NRL grand final night in 2018 says she has been "launched into what feels like a never-ending nightmare" - reliving her ordeal through three highly publicised trials of the former rugby league star.
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Hayne faced a pre-sentencing hearing in Sydney District Court on Monday, May 8, after a jury in April found him guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
Judge Graham Turnbull will sentence him on Friday, May 12.
In court on Monday, Crown prosecutor John Sfinas read a victim impact statement on behalf of the woman Hayne digitally and orally assaulted.
The woman said she had not been able to move on with her life since the incident almost five years ago - that she continued to need time off work and had been unable to finish her university studies.
"After going through the first and second trials, I was hoping this would all be over, and I could finally try and move on with my life," she said in the statement read to the court.
"I have not been able to move on or feel any sense of peace."
The woman, who cannot be identified, said the incident and its fallout had been mentally and socially damaging.
"I'm stronger and I'm wiser but I'm damaged and I won't ever be the same person," she said.
Hayne's bail was initially continued after the verdict - which came at the culmination of a two-week trial - but the DPP appealed the decision in the Supreme Court and Hayne found himself back behind bars in mid April.
The court heard during the trial that the former Parramatta Eels and NSW Blues player went to the woman's home on the night of September 30, 2018, after a bucks weekend in Newcastle.
He left a taxi waiting outside the woman's house while he sang to her, played songs on her laptop, and orally and digitally raped her - leaving the woman bleeding.
Hayne, now 35, continued his journey home to Sydney in the taxi.
The court heard on Monday that Hayne was likely to spend his jail term in protective custody.
His defence barrister Margaret Cunneen, SC, argued this would make his time in prison more onerous.
She said Hayne was "a very different man now" compared to who he was at the time of the offence, largely because his rehabilitation had so far taken place mostly within the community.
Ms Cunneen said her client had managed a "complete reversal of conduct in relation to the abuse of alcohol".
She urged Judge Turnbull to consider, when sentencing Hayne, the "extraordinary loss" of his rugby league career and an "extremely lucrative contract".
Mr Sfinas, for the Crown, said Hayne's crimes fell below the mid-range level of objective seriousness - but stressed they were not at the lower end of that scale.
He said the level of hardship Hayne faced in prison was not of a level that should mitigate the jail term he receives.
Mr Sfinas asked Judge Turnbull to consider the woman's fear when sentencing Hayne - although she invited the footballer to her home she withdrew her consent to any sexual activity but Hayne's 104kg frame would have been "imposing" to the 48kg woman.
The trial that began in March was the third since he was charged. The first jury was unable to reach a verdict and his conviction in the second was overturned in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Hayne has previously indicated he plans to appeal the guilty verdicts in the latest trial.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
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