Jarryd Hayne’s wife cries on the witness stand

Cunneen filed an affidavit from Hayne’s wife and called her to testify. At the mention of the couple’s three young children, Bonnici began to cry on the witness stand.

When asked by Cunneen what the next few weeks would mean for the family without her husband’s support “to prepare things for his sentence,” Bonnici replied, “I can’t put it into words.”

She said that if Hayne were sentenced to full-time incarceration, they would have to move to a regional location to have her parents’ support and she would need her husband’s help to move.

On cross-examination, she said she had friends and family in Sydney but no extended family, while Hayne’s relatives live on the Central Coast but would provide minimal help with raising children.

She agreed that Hayne had “not enjoyed a salary” for the past five years and said they “lived on my husband’s savings.”

Cunneen also stated that Hayne has not broken bail since his November 19, 2018 arrest.

Sfinas offered Haynes a criminal record, bail report, and guardianship history.

Just 14 months ago, Hayne left Cooma Correctional Center on his 34th birthday after convictions from his second trial were overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered.

At the beginning of the hearing, Cunneen had argued that “further incarcerations, while likely, are not necessarily inevitable.”

“Mr. Hayne has served nine months and nine days,” she said. “He suffered the humiliation and public humiliation that entails.”

Cunneen said Haynes’ previous sentence — five years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months in prison — “is certainly not a benchmark, [it] can only be seen as a ceiling”.

Haynes’ trial heard he stopped at the woman’s home in Fletcher on September 30, 2018, on his way back to Sydney after a dollar weekend, left a $550 cab outside and told the driver he had a bag to pick up.

The Crown case against Hayne was that the woman’s possibility of sex was gone when she noticed the waiting vehicle after knocking on the door or beeping the cab’s horn.

“She realized she was nothing more than a distraction,” the prosecutor told the jury.

In her evidence, including footage played in closed court, the woman said Hayne was rough and energetic, carrying out the acts despite her protestations of “no” and “stop,” causing her to bleed.

Loading

Hayne has always maintained his innocence.

The former Parramatta Eels player and his lawyers have indicated their intention to appeal the verdicts.

Our breaking news alert will notify you of important breaking news when it happens. get it here.