Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne is back in court after being told to report to police one day a week instead of three.
He is currently facing a year-long wait for his third sexual assault trial after a judge refused his application for the proceedings to be held in Newcastle, but on Friday, Hayne was granted more relaxed bail conditions.
Hayne, 33, had been in jail for nearly ten months having been sentenced to at least three years and nine months in prison for the alleged sexual assault of a woman back in 2018.
The former NRL star’s future had been in the hands of veteran lawyer Tim Game SC – the New South Wales legal man who is regarded as one of Australia’s best appeals lawyers – and someone who charges as much as $14,000 a day for the privilege.
Hayne appeared on Zoom at the Court of Criminal Appeal after being found guilty of sexual assault of a woman he met on social media back in 2018.
In a previous interview with News Corp, one Director of Public Prosecutions lawyer said: “He (Game) is able to find fault in others’ decisions and convince a panel of judges he’s right. That’s not easy to specialise in.”
Hayne used a “legal argument” in a frontal bid for his appeal after he was found guilty by the District Court of forcing oral and digital sex on a woman inside her Newcastle home back on Grand Final night in 2018.
Hayne told the court at the time that the sex was consensual and the woman’s injuries were accidental.
His first trial in Newcastle late in 2020 ended in a hung jury while following a second earlier this year, a jury took three days to find him guilty of two counts of sexual assault.
The father-of-two is, however, banned from attending the Newcastle area as part of his bail conditions, but his legal team is fighting to have the case heard in the city.
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