Jarryd Hayne’s outspoken lawyer has sparked controversy again, just days after calling the fallen football star “a fine and decent man”, this time describing the rape allegations against him and another man as “petty nonsense”.
The 36-year-old was released from prison on June 12 after his convictions were overturned. In April 2023, a jury found him guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, after which he spent more than a year behind bars.
The ruling by the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal ends a six-year saga that saw the two-time Dally M winner appear in court three times after he was accused of raping a woman in Newcastle during the 2018 NRL final.
Margaret Cunneen SC was embroiled in a row over Hayne this week, stemming from a LinkedIn post praising his character. A second post, now deleted, has now surfaced in which Ms Cunneen again praises Hayne, as well as a second man, who is accused of rape and has yet to stand trial.
The second man cannot be named for legal reasons. It is unclear whether he is also Ms Cunneen’s client.
She shared a photo of Hayne and the other man drinking Veuve Clicquot champagne at Sydney’s swanky Opera Bar, with a caption describing the pair as “geniuses” and “beloved” fathers.
‘No greater geniuses, in each other’s own fields, and perfectly decent men, and beloved fathers – [the second man] and Jarryd Hayne – both wrongly accused of nonsense and both cruelly imprisoned in the meantime,’ wrote Mrs Cunneen.
“We pretend to be a civilized society,” she concluded.
Jarryd Hayne’s outspoken lawyer has stirred up controversy again, just days after calling the fallen football star “a lovely and decent man” – this time describing the rape allegations against him as “petty nonsense”. She posted this image on LinkedIn of Hayne and another rape suspect (left), who cannot be identified for legal reasons, alongside a provocative caption
The man standing next to Hayne in the photo at the Opera Bar has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of young women, as well as other charges, which are still pending before the courts.
Daily Mail Australia asked Ms Cunneen whether she will be the accused’s lawyer at the upcoming hearings, and what she meant when she described the rape charges as “nonsense”.
The photo, which appeared on Ms Cunneen’s LinkedIn account over the weekend, appears to have been taken on the night Hayne was celebrating her acquittal of all rape charges..
Ms Cunneen marked the celebratory occasion with a new LinkedIn post in which she praised the former Parramatta Eels star as “a lovely and decent man”, sparking some controversy among her social media followers..
Another experienced barrister, former solicitor Michael McDonald, protested angrily at Ms Cunneen’s glowing description of Hayne.
Mr McDonald said he was pleased Hayne’s ‘appeal had been upheld and he hoped the prosecution against him was finally over.’
But he added: ‘With all due respect, “decent and decent” men do not engage in the type of behaviour that Jarryd Hayne engaged in.’
Mrs Cunneen responded: ‘You don’t know what happened.’
She then claimed the footballer’s trousers were unopened during his fateful encounter with his female accuser in New Lambton, Newcastle, in 2018.
Another senior lawyer angrily protested against Ms Cunneen’s (left) glowing characterisation of Hayne in this earlier LinkedIn post, in which she called him a “fine and decent man”
The LinkedIn spat between Ms Cunneen and former lawyer Michael McDonald can be seen above
Mr McDonald referred to Haynes’s behaviour that night, which led to him being charged with rape.
Hayne’s criminal trial involved him paying a taxi driver $550 to wait 46 minutes while he entered a house to have sex with a young woman.
The encounter resulted in three rape cases, two convictions and 23 months in prison. Both convictions were eventually overturned, the last one last month.
One of the three NSW Criminal Court of Appeal judges who heard Hayne’s appeal, Justice Deborah Sweeney, opposed retrying the case, saying a fourth trial would “not be in the interests of justice”.
The Public Prosecution Service decided on June 25 not to hold a fourth trial.
Mrs Cunneen specifically thanked Judge Sweeney in her photo and said Hayne was celebrating ‘justice at last’.
But she struck a different tone with Mr. McDonald. “You didn’t see (the plaintiff’s) nails – filed to points bigger than a bishop’s miter. Total 2 years? Please.”
During Hayne’s trial, it was alleged that the woman was bleeding after the sexual encounter. When she texted her that she was “in a lot of pain,” Hayne replied, “Go to the doctor tomorrow.”
In response to Ms Cunneen’s objection to his comment, Mr McDonald replied: ‘My comment is two sentences, let me reverse the order.
‘To be clear, his prosecution was an unmitigated disgrace and, as in the case of the late Cardinal Pell, I was confident that he would ultimately be acquitted on appeal.
‘But in my humble opinion a “fine and decent man”, especially one who is married and a father, would not have put himself and his relationship with his wife and children in the position that Jarryd did.’
Hayne was not married to Amellia Bonnici in September 2018 when the 26-year-old woman who accused him of raping her in Newcastle alleged she had been sexually assaulted. However, they were already an affair.
Hayne (pictured with his wife Amellia) faced three rape charges and 23 months in prison until he was released last month when his most recent convictions were quashed
Ms Bonnici married Hayne in a ceremony attended by 50 family members and friends, including former NRL teammates on Australia Day 2021
While most commenters on the LinkedIn post were positive about Ms Cunneen, a second LinkedIn user was also irritated by the way Hayne was portrayed as ‘fine and decent’.
“As much as I respect you, Margaret,” wrote James Hanrahan, a professional cleaner for Sydney Trains, “he has a girl in the [United] States.
Mr Hanrahan was referring to the civil lawsuit filed against Hayne in California for rape, which was settled in 2019 with a payment of just under $100,000.
The young woman, identified only as JV, accused Hayne of sexually assaulting her in 2015 in San Jose, during his NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers.
JV claimed that she was drunk at the time of the alleged incident and that she was a Christian and a virgin saving herself for marriage.
Ms Cunneen also responded to that post. ‘He settled a ridiculous claim to save resources in a CIVIL case,’ she wrote.
“The prosecutors knew that was unfounded. Do you even understand that in the Newcastle case he never unzipped his pants?”
Hayne and his wife Bonnici reportedly met via Instagram in early 2016, when he was playing for the Gold Coast Titans.
A few weeks later, Mrs. Bonnici was pregnant with the couple’s first child, daughter Beliviah Ivy.
Hayne had only recently returned from his stint with the 49ers, signing a $1 million-a-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans.
The couple got engaged in late 2020 and married the following year on Australia Day in front of 50 family and friends, including former NRL teammates.
Daily Mail Australia has been forced to blur the photo of Ms Bonnici, taken by Cunneen, due to an extraordinary court order banning the publication of any photos of Haynes’ wife taken after May 12, 2023.
The unusual court order has no expiration date.
Judge Graham Turnbull ordered the suppression of the sentence on the day he sentenced Hayne to a minimum of three years’ imprisonment following his third trial in the New South Wales District Court.
The order did not explain why it was made, but Judge Turnbull had heard evidence that Ms Bonnici had specific “health problems” and that her children had previously been photographed by the media.