Former NRL superstar Jarryd Hayne was found guilty of sexual assault on Monday after a seven-day trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

The Crown Prosecution played a series of phone calls to the Court from Hayne’s phone in which he discussed the claims made against him by the woman with teammate Mitchell Pearce. Judge Helen Syme has made the decision to release the recordings to the media. A two-second video taken by the woman was also obtained by the Prosecution that showed her white bed sheets with blood stains after the assault.

Hayne was charge with two alternative charges of sexual intercourse without consent after he performed oral and digital sex on the woman after she refused his advances. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence that she withdrew her consent from any sexual interaction from Hayne after she found out he had a taxi waiting outside of her house.

Crown Prosecutor Brian Costello told the court that the messages shown to the Court convey that Hayne felt “entitled to just force himself upon her”.

In the various calls and messages shown to the court, Hayne refers to the woman as a “weirdo”, a “cuckoo” and a “young cow”.

Hayne has already expressed his intention to appeal his conviction.

He is next before Newcastle District Court on May 6 for sentence, where he may face the maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment. He is currently on bail with $50,000.00 in surety, must stay in his local area on the Central Coast and a daily report to police.

With the recent publicity around the sexual assault of Brittany Higgins in Parliament house, and discussions about producing an app that records consent, it is clear that more needs to be done to inform the public and young people about the prevalence of sexual assault in the Australian community and negotiating ways to mitigate such occurrences.

If you have any questions about this article or any other topic of law, please call our team of experts on 1300 066 669.