The outspoken barrister for Jarryd Hayne has once again courted controversy just days after calling the fallen footy star ‘a fine and decent man’ – this time describing the rape accusations against him and another man as ‘trifling rubbish’.
The 36-year-old was released from prison on June 12 after his convictions were quashed, having spent more than a year behind bars after a jury in April 2023 found him guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
The decision by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal brought an end to a six-year saga that saw the two-time Dally M winner face three trials after he was accused of raping a woman in Newcastle on NRL grand final night in 2018.
Margaret Cunneen SC was this week embroiled in a row over Hayne stemming from a LinkedIn post praising his character. A second post, which has now been deleted, has now emerged of Ms Cunneen once again praising Hayne as well as a second man, who is accused of rape and yet to stand trial.
The second man cannot be named for legal reasons. It is unclear if he is also Ms Cunneen’s client.
She shared a photo of Hayne and the other man drinking Veuve Clicquot champagne at the swanky Opera Bar in Sydney, alongside a caption hailing the two as ‘geniuses’ and ‘beloved’ fathers.
‘No greater geniuses, in each other’s own field, and thoroughly decent men, and beloved Dads – [the second man] and Jarryd Hayne – both falsely accused of trifling rubbish and both cruelly incarcerated in the interim,’ wrote Ms Cunneen.
‘We pretend we are a civilised society,’ she concluded.
The outspoken barrister for Jarryd Hayne has once again courted controversy just days after calling the fallen footy star ‘a fine and decent man’ – this time describing the rape accusations against him as ‘trifling rubbish’. She posted this image on LinkedIn of Hayne and another rape accused (left), who cannot be identified for legal reasons, alongside a provocative caption
The man standing beside Hayne in the Opera Bar photo has been charged with several sexual assaults against young women, along with other charges, which are still before the courts.
Daily Mail Australia has asked Ms Cunneen if she will be the accused’s legal counsel in forthcoming hearings, and what she meant by describing rape charges as ‘trifling rubbish’.
The photo, which appeared last weekend on Ms Cunneen’s LinkedIn account, appears to have been taken on the night Hayne was out celebrating being cleared of all rape allegations.
Ms Cunneen had marked that jubilant occasion with another LinkedIn post in which she hailed the ex-Parramatta Eels star as ‘a fine and decent man’, sparking some dissent among her social media followers.
Indeed, another senior lawyer, former barrister Michael McDonald, furiously objected to Ms Cunneen’s glowing characterisation of Hayne.
Mr McDonald said he was pleased Hayne’s ‘appeal has been upheld and hope the persecution of him is finally over.’
But he added: ‘Respectfully, “fine and decent” men do not engage in the type of conduct in which Jarryd Hayne engaged.’
Ms Cunneen fired back: ‘You don’t know what happened.’
She then went on to claim the footballer’s trousers were unopened during his ill-fated encounter with his female accuser at New Lambton, in Newcastle, in 2018.
Another senior lawyer furiously objected to 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 barrister Michael McDonald is seen above
Mr McDonald was referring to Hayne’s conduct on the night which resulted in his being charged with rape.
Hayne’s criminal trials were told he paid a taxi driver $550 to wait 46 minutes while he went into a house to have sex with a young woman.
The encounter resulted in three rape trials, two convictions and 23 months’ jail time. Both convictions were eventually overturned, the latest last month.
One of the three NSW Criminal Court of Appeal judges who heard Hayne’s appeal, Justice Deborah Sweeney, was opposed to putting the case before another jury, arguing a fourth trial ‘would not be in the interests of justice’.
The DPP decided against running a fourth trial on June 25.
Ms Cunneen specifically thanked Justice Sweeney in her photo, saying Hayne was celebrating ‘justice at last’.
But she took a different tone with Mr McDonald. ‘You have not seen (the accuser’s) fingernails – filed to points more than a bishop’s mitre. Total 2 years? Please.’
During Hayne’s trials it was alleged the woman was left bleeding after the sexual encounter, and when she complained via text she was ‘hurting really badly’, Hayne texted back ‘go doctor tomorrow’.
In response to Ms Cunneen’s objection to his comment, Mr McDonald then replied, ‘My comment comprises two sentences, let me reverse their order.
‘To be clear, his prosecution has been an absolute travesty and, like in the late Cardinal Pell’s case, I was confident that he would eventually be cleared on appeal.
‘However, in my humble opinion, a “fine and decent man”, especially when he is married, and a father, would not have placed himself and his relationship with his wife and children in the place that Jarryd did.’
Hayne was not married to Amellia Bonnici in September 2018 when the 26-year-old woman who accused him of the Newcastle rape claimed she had been sexually assaulted. They were, however, already a couple.
Hayne (pictured with wife Amellia) faced three rape trials and 23 months in jail until he was freed last month when his most recent convictions were quashed
Ms Bonnici married Hayne at a ceremony in front of 50 family and friends including old NRL teammates on Australia Day 2021
While most commentators on the LinkedIn post shared supportive words with Ms Cunneen, a second LinkedIn user also rankled at the depiction of Hayne as ‘fine and decent’.
‘As much as I respect you Margaret,’ posted Sydney Trains professional cleaner James Hanrahan, ‘he paid off a girl in the [United] States.’
Mr Hanrahan was referring to the civil lawsuit taken by an American rape claimant against Hayne in California, which was settled in 2019 by a payment of just under $100,000.
The young woman, identified only as JV, had accused Hayne of sexually assaulting her in San Jose in 2015 during his NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers.
JV claimed she was intoxicated at the time of the alleged incident and was a Christian and a virgin who was saving herself for marriage.
Ms Cunneen also hit back at that post. ‘He settled a ridiculous claim so as to save resources in a CIVIL case,’ she wrote.
‘The prosecutors knew that was baseless. Do you even understand that he never even opened his pants in the Newcastle matter?’
Hayne and his wife Ms Bonnici reportedly met over Instagram in early 2016 when he was playing for the Gold Coast Titans.
A few weeks later Ms Bonnici was pregnant with the couple’s first child, daughter Beliviah Ivy.
Hayne had only recently returned from his stint with the 49ers and signed a $1million-a-year deal with the Gold Coast Titans.
The couple became engaged in late 2020 and married in front of 50 family and friends including old NRL teammates on Australia Day the next year.
Daily Mail Australia has been forced to blur Ms Cunneen’s image of Ms Bonnici due to an extraordinary court order that bans publication of any images of Hayne’s wife taken after May 12, 2023.
The unusual court order has no expiry date.
Judge Graham Turnbull made the suppression order the day he sentenced Hayne to a minimum three years’ jail after his third NSW District Court trial.
The order did not include an explanation for why it was made but Judge Turnbull had heard evidence of Ms Bonnici having particular ‘health conditions’ and her children being previously photographed by media.
