Jarryd Hayne’s lawyer has asked for the disgraced NRL star to be given another 25 days of freedom rather than be taken into custody today.
Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC told the NSW Supreme Court her client faced more than three weeks of segregation and isolation in prison, should be locked up on Friday.
Hayne, 35, faced the court on Friday in a bid to fight attempts by prosecutors to throw him behind bars before his sentencing date on May 8.
‘He is not a danger to anyone,’ Ms Cunneen said, citing ‘the extraordinary media coverage and a toxic and terrifying campaign of social media’ portraying Hayne as ‘a sex offender of the most debased, the worst kind.’
Jarryd Hayne appeared tense as he arrived at court to learn whether or not he will be taken into custody today
The disgraced NRL star held his wife Amellia Bonnici by the hand as the pair pushed through the throng of media waiting outside the NSW Supreme Court on Friday
Last Thursday, NSW District Court Judge Graham Turnbull SC permitted Hayne to remain at liberty on bail to help his family get sorted for his looming prison sentence.
The Director of Public Prosecutions applied this week for a higher court to overturn the ruling and put him behind bars.
If prosecutors are successful, Hayne will be handcuffed in the court, taken down to the cells and then ferried to either Silverwater or Parklea maximum correctional centre by prison van.
Ms Cunneen described the 25 days Hayne would spend in protective custody if jailed today as ‘oppressive’.
She said the case had been going on for a long time, ‘three trials and four-and-a-half years’.
As she argued for her client’s continued liberty, Hayne sat in the dock of the court, his face impassive.
He bowed his head as prosecutors argued for him to be locked up, saying there were ‘no special or exceptional circumstances in regard to this offender’ to spare him immediate imprisonment.
Hayne was spotted visibly looking tense outside his home in Merrylands, and held his wife Amellia Bonnici’s hand as the pair arrived at court this morning.
He hid his eyes behind a pair of large black sunglasses and wore a tie, suit jacket and fawn pants.
Hayne put his arm briefly round the shoulder of his barrister Ms Cunneen after walking into court.
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Justice Button said he did not require anyone to testify to the court, including Ms Bonnici and would accept an affidavit she has previously had sworn.
Ms Cunneen argued that Hayne’s case was one of special or exceptional circumstances, to which His Honour replied that those circumstances had to justify his continuance on bail.
Justice Button said that ‘violence against people in jail (is not acceptable) but the reality is many people in custody need to be placed within limited areas to protect them’.
‘There is great public interest in the criminal justice system especially sexual (crimes),’ he said.
Ms Cunneen said it would make a great difference if Ms Bonnici and the children could be re-located to a country centre four hours out of Sydney for the next three or four weeks ‘with the protection of her husband’.
Hayne was spotted leaving his home and making a beeline for his car before arriving at the NSW Supreme Court on Friday
The NRL star was accompanied by his wife as he stepped foot out the front door of his home
Hayne opened the car door for his wife as she stepped inside before the pair headed to court
After Ms Cunneen argued that immediate imprisonment would ‘impinge very much on his preparation for custody’, Justice Button agreed that ‘for anyone held in very strict custody that can make it difficult’.
‘But really,’ the judge asked, ‘is this something special, exceptional, justifying?
‘It’s been proven that Mr Hayne is a man who has sexually assaulted a woman.’
The court has previously heard there was ‘no question’ Hayne will be sentenced to prison after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018.
Hayne was earlier this month convicted by a jury for a second time.
Following his first guilty verdict, he spent nine months in jail before he last year had his previous conviction quashed on appeal.
He is once again expected to appeal his latest conviction in the Court of Appeal and continues to maintain his innocence.
Hayne put his arm briefly round the shoulder of his barrister, Margaret Cunneen SC, after walking into court on Friday
