A woman who was sexually assaulted by former NRL star Jarryd Hayne was so emotional on the day of his appeal that she told a man who would later become a defence witness “you f***ed my appeal”.
Hayne was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman without her consent at her Newcastle home on the night of the NRL grand final in 2018.
The jury of six men and six women came to their verdict of guilty after six days of deliberation following the 11-day NSW District Court trial.
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But before the jury was empanelled on March 13, Crown prosecutor John Sfinas and defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC underwent four days of pre-trial argument before Judge Graham Turnbull.
“YOU F***ED MY APPEAL”
Judge Turnbull decided to allow text messages between the victim and Steven Page on the day of the assault.
During the trial, the jury was told the woman sent him multiple text messages on the same day she saw Hayne.
The first said: “You have made me feel f***ing terrible today bye” with a waving emoji.
The woman then wrote: “Are you going to talk to me, otherwise I won’t … at least answer me and stop being a d**k”.
The jury was told Mr Page then wrote to the woman: “You honestly lost me at Jarryd Hayne is your side boy”.
But the woman denied he was her side boy.
“He isn’t. He contacted me last night and asked for my number and rang me, I told him no,” the text to Mr Page said.
The woman continued to ask if the man would be coming over before saying she felt “like a f**king idiot”.
She messaged again: “K (sic) if you aren’t going to say yes then I’ll say yes to Jarryd Hayne.”
Mr Page said he had stopped talking to the woman that day but she continued to send even more messages which read: “You said maybe, so I’m asking if you’re not? I feel like a f***ing idiot, are you coming over?”
Another message said: “K, if we aren’t going to keep talking, I’m going to say yes to Jarryd Hayne coming here to hang out when he’s done with his mates; otherwise I won’t let him.”
“Omg (sic) get me his signature babe xx,” Mr Page responded before saying: “I never said I was coming over”.
The jury was told the woman sent a further six messages to Mr Page.
She continued to ask if he was coming over before saying “stop talking to me altogether” and calling him a jerk.
The woman also said his lack of reply was making her “upset” and “bringing me down so badly”.
“You said maybe so I’m asking if you’re not, … I feel like a f**king idiot … are you coming over … k (sic) … if we aren’t going to keep talking I’m going to say yes to Jarryd,” more messages read.
During pre-trial argument, Judge Turnbull told the court on the day of the appeal for Hayne’s previous trial, November 29 2021, the woman had been watching the proceedings via AVL.
After seeing Mr Page’s texts in the appeal, the court was told the woman angrily went to his apartment about 11.45am.
“She attends upon the unit and conducts herself in this way, she calls Mr Page but he doesn’t answer,” Judge Turnbull said.
“She bangs on the door and says ‘you f***ed my appeal’.”
The court was told the police were then called.
The woman then said to a police officer: “If those messages get out, I’m f***ed and he will get off.”
Judge Turnbull told the court that Mr Page’s housemate was in the unit and opened the door.
“She said, tell Steve he’s just f***ed me with the appeal’,” Judge Turnbull said.
He said the woman appeared to be “very agitated and angry” at the time as it was a “situational event arising from distress” in the way she saw the appeal to be going.
The woman’s “anticipated result” in relation to the appeal was correct, Judge Turnbull said.
He said the woman’s statement was not inaccurate “in the eyes of a lay person” with an emotional attachment to the matter.
Judge Turnbull said he could not see why it was necessary to canvass the matter further, saying it had an “almost infinitesimal weight”.
He ruled it was not necessary to canvass, clarify or ask what was on the woman’s mind during the outburst at the trial.
During the trial, the jury was told Mr Page’s evidence was deleted off the woman’s phone before she handed it to police.
Mr Page was a new witness in this trial after the judge in the second trial in 2021 refused for his evidence to be tendered to the jury.
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Ms Cunneen told the court she wanted to address a “social media campaign” in relation to the trial.
After the defence made an application to have the victim come back on the witness stand to address further evidence, Ms Cunneen said there had been criticism of it on social media.
“Brittany Higgins, Grace Tame and others have been highly critical of Mr Hayne’s lawyers for pursuing this application,” she said.
Judge Turnbull said the woman had chosen to give evidence herself.
When asked by the judge what she could do about it, Ms Cunneen said it was a “matter for the jury”.
“Eventually it will be our application that you will have to reinforce with the jury whatever applications were made, social media should be ignored,” she said.
Judge Turnbull said he would make it “absolutely clear” there could be no access to social media.
