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Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne told his friends a woman had sent him “nudes on Snapchat” before she “wigged out” over a sexual encounter and contacted the Integrity Unit claiming it was sexual assault, a court has heard.
The 35-year-old Dally M winner is facing the second week of his NSW District Court trial after pleading not guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault without consent.
Hayne denies sexually assaulting the woman at her home on Newcastle’s outskirts in September 2018, on the night of the NRL Grand Final, claiming they engaged in consensual sexual acts.
The former footy star is accused of pulling off the woman’s pants before allegedly performing oral and digital sexual acts on her without her consent, causing cuts and substantial bleeding.
According to Crown prosecutor John Sfinas, Mr Hayne is accused of being “forceful” and “rough”.
Former NRL superstar Jarryd Hayne and his wife Amelia Bonnici leaving the Downing Centre Court in Sydney. Photo / NCA Newswire
The court has been told the woman didn’t want to report the alleged assault, and kept the incident to herself for several weeks, only telling a select group of friends and family.
But on October 30, the court was told she broke down and called her sister, revealing what had happened.
The woman’s brother-in-law took the matter “into his own hands” and contacted Channel 9 journalist Danny Weidler, who told the family to call Karyn Murphy at the NRL Integrity Unit.
Two weeks later on November 15, Murphy made a phone call to Hayne saying she wanted to talk to him, the jury was told.
Murphy’s phone call to the former Parramatta fullback was one of five calls tapped by police which were played to the jury on Monday.
Several hours later Hayne was recorded by police talking to an unnamed male about the allegations made to the governing body.
“That sheila went to the NRL,” Hayne could be heard saying.
“Yeah, [journalist Danny Weidler] messaged me, [journalist Phil Rothfield] was chasing Beave [Hayne’s manager Wayne Beavis].”
He described the woman as a “weirdo” and “cuckoo”.
On that same night he received a phone call from former teammate Mitchell Pearce, where the pair discuss the allegations.
Pearce asked: “You under the pump? … Who’s this sheila coming out saying something about ya?”
He told Pearce the woman’s name and said she was sending him “nudes on Snapchat” in the weeks before the alleged incident.
Hayne asked his former teammate to ask around to see if any of his Newcastle Knights teammates might know the woman.
“I was in Newie, I was like ‘oh I’ll pop in on the way home’,” Hayne responded.
“So I did that and then f***ing she was filthy cause the cab was out the front.”
The court earlier heard Hayne paid a taxi $550 to take him from Newcastle to Sydney and stop at the woman’s house along the way.
It is the Crown case the woman refused to consent to sexual intercourse when she realised there was a taxi waiting outside.
“I said ‘oh well mate, I’m only going to be here for, you know, a short time’. She just wigged out,” Hayne told his former teammate in the phone tap played to the jury.
“And then like I watched a bit of the grand final with her old girl.”
Hayne said after they “fooled around” the woman began bleeding which he described as “weird”.
He said the woman “wigged out” on the night, but later “flipped out” and reported the matter to journalists.
The jury was played two more phone tapes, both of which came from the same conversation with another unnamed male where Hayne called the woman a “young cow” and “idiot”.
“But you could tell she’s f***ing mate, just a weirdo mate, you know a young cow just carrying on,” Hayne said to 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.”
Hayne said he hadn’t been texting the woman since the alleged incident.
“Cause I didn’t, you know what I mean, like didn’t really speak to her face, she was filthy.”
He 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.”
