Former AFL star Jarryd Hayne has won an appeal against his rape conviction and been ordered to stand trial for a fourth time in the same case.
A jury last year found the 36-year-old guilty of sexual assault and was sentenced to at least three years in prison.
He has always denied assaulting the woman – who cannot be legally named – in her bedroom, arguing the pair had consensual sex.
Mr Hayne is one of Australia’s best-known players in the National Football League (NRL) and briefly played American football in the NFL.
The 26-year-old complainant told the New South Wales District Court that the pair chatted on social media for two weeks before Mr Hayne stopped by her Newcastle home after a bachelorette party in September. Newcastle is located approximately two hours drive north of Sydney 2018.
She said that despite her saying “no” and “stop”, Mr Hayne forced himself on her, causing her to bleed.
Mr Hayne’s appeal was heard by a three-judge panel of the state’s Supreme Court in April.
Two of the trio ruled on Wednesday that the trial judge erred in barring the woman from being cross-examined over certain text messages that Mr Hayne’s legal team argued implied her consent.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Stephen Rothman said this amounted to a miscarriage of justice and ordered Mr Hayne’s conviction to be quashed.
He has been granted bail and will be released from jail.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it would consider the verdict and make any decision on a possible retrial in accordance with its guidelines.
Last year’s trial was the third time Mr Hayne had appeared in court on the same charges. His first trial ended in a hung jury, and the guilty verdict in the second trial was overturned on appeal.
He spent a total of nearly two years in prison as the legal saga unfolded, with the accuser forced to give evidence multiple times and face lengthy cross-examinations.
Judge Deborah Sweeney said in her written reasons that she believed a fourth trial was “not in the interests of justice”
Judge Rothman agreed, saying it was “unlikely” that a trial would take place before Mr Hayne’s non-parole period expired – and in any case, he had already served most of it.
A former captain of the Parramatta Eels, Mr Hayne was twice awarded the National Rugby League (NRL) Player of the Year award and played 11 Test matches for Australia.
At the peak of his career in Australia, he joined the San Francisco 49ers of the American NFL in 2015.
