Jarryd Hayne stood with his hands on his hips before slumping back on a chair inside a Sydney court room yesterday.
After more than a week of waiting, a jury had just returned verdicts of guilty to charges he sexually assaulted a woman on NRL grand final night in 2018.
It was the third time the former rugby league star had faced trial over the same incident, which he claimed was wholly consensual.
The two-time Dally M winner has now been convicted twice by a jury.
Outside the Downing Centre District Court, a defiant Hayne was flanked by his wife as he told a waiting media scrum he would appeal again.
"Devastated," he said. "I'm gonna keep standing for the truth."
Asked if he maintained his innocence, the ex-State of Origin player replied "100 per cent".
"I never lied to police. I never deleted evidence. I never hid witnesses.
"You do the math."
He was referring to evidence heard in court that the woman deleted 22 messages from her mobile phone before speaking with police, some of which were sent to another man on the day of the assault.
Hayne was accused at trial of performing non-consensual digital and oral sex on then 26-year-old woman at a home in Newcastle on September 30, 2018.
The 35-year-old pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
He had been in Newcastle for a friend's bucks party and caught a taxi to the woman's home on the city's outskirts on his way back to Sydney.
The two had exchanged "sexualised" messages on social media for two weeks, the court heard, before the woman invited Hayne to the house she shared with her mother.
She told police any chance of consensual sex evaporated when she learned Hayne had left the taxi waiting outside. The incident left her injured and bleeding.
Hayne gave evidence he knew the woman "didn't want to have sex" but decided to "please her", and claimed she consented to the acts he performed.
"Did I lie? Did I lie? There's factual evidence," he said leaving court yesterday.
The jury retired to deliberate on March 27, with official records from the District Court stating they took 23 hours and 30 minutes of court time to reach a unanimous decision.
After such a long wait, things changed suddenly on Tuesday afternoon.
About 2:30pm, the jury sent a note to Judge Graham Turnbull saying it was still deadlocked on a verdict.
In the same note, the jury also asked whether "ignorance of the law" was "sufficient defence" to acquit the accused.
The court heard during the trial that both Hayne and the complainant did not understand oral and digital penetration to be considered acts of sexual intercourse, which they are by law.
Judge Turnbull told the jury ignorance was not a defence but reminded the members it was up to the Crown to prove guilt beyond doubt.
He said there was no evidence in the trial suggesting that Hayne or the woman had a "misunderstanding" about whether forcing themselves on another person was legal.
The judge also reminded them the former NRL player gave evidence that the sex was consensual, while the woman claimed she did not consent to any form of sexual activity.
Another note informing the judge a verdict had been reached came through about 3:30pm.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you've done your duty and it can't have been easy," Judge Turnbull told them afterwards.
Margaret Cunneen SC, Hayne's barrister, told the court she was "vexed" over the wording of the previous note.
She said a google search conducted by the defence showed similar wording to "ignorance of the law" and "sufficient defence" being used in several articles online.
The court heard prosecutors are likely to apply for Hayne to be remanded in custody at a hearing on Thursday.
Then will come sentencing, with the one-time NFL convert facing a return to jail and a maximum of 14 years in prison.
Hayne spent nine months behind bars after being found guilty at his second trial in 2021, and jailed for a five years and nine months.
The ex-Parramatta Eels fullback was released last year after successfully appealing against the verdicts in the NSW Court or Criminal Appeal.
The first trial, held at Newcastle's District Court in late 2020, ended in a hung jury.
Judge Turnbull said the previous sentence handed to Hayne for the offences would act as a "guide", but "might not necessarily be what I impose".
Outside, a reporter asked Hayne what he would do with the "precious time" he had left before Thursday's court date.
"Obviously spend it with close ones," he said.
Hayne's bail was formally extended until Thursday, but in doing so Judge Turnbull warned it was no indication of what might happen after the next hearing.
