Jarryd Hayne will not face new rape trial

 

Prosecutors withdrew their charges against former Fiji Bati and Australian Rugby League player Jarryd Hayne, meaning he won’t go on trial a fourth time in the same rape case. Earlier this month, the 36-year-old was successful in his appeal against his convictions. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has stated in a statement that it will not reopen the case after evaluating what is in the “public Interest” and “carefully considering the many competing factors.” “As the reasons for the decision are legally privileged, they will not be disclosed and the ODPP will not comment further,” the statement continued.

As the legal process has progressed, Hayne has been imprisoned for a total of over two years, and his accuser has been subjected to repeated, protracted cross-examination. The two judges who upheld Hayne’s appeal expressed their opinion that a fourth trial should not go forward in their decision to uphold the appeal. He has been put on trial three times for the same claimed attack; the first trial resulted in a hung jury, and the guilty decision from the second trial was similarly reversed on appeal. Hayne has continuously disputed that he assaulted the unnamed woman in her bedroom in 2018, claiming that they had consensual sex.

One of NRL’s most decorated athletes, Hayne also had a brief NFL career in the US with the San Francisco 49ers and the Fiji 7s team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Hayne twice won the NRL’s player of the year award while playing for the Parramatta Eels and featured in 11 test matches for the Kangaroos.

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