Jodie Hayne returned to the Central Coast home her son bought her with a trolley full of groceries after a shopping trip to Coles on Thursday afternoon
She is Jarryd Hayne’s most fierce protector and a key part of her son’s legend – and Jodie Hayne is still in her son’s corner, running errands to help his young family, hosting his wife for a meal and accompanying her boy to court.
Ms Hayne returned to the humble home on the NSW central coast that her son famously bought her with a trolley full of groceries following a supermarket trip on Thursday.
She was joined a short time later by Hayne’s wife Amellia Bonnici, 29, who arrived with containers of food – some four days after the footy superstar was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent with an unnamed woman.
Both women watched on earlier in the week as a jury of seven men and five women found Hayne, 33, guilty, and they have been nearby after he was bailed to the same region, awaiting sentencing.
Hayne’s mum has always been a part of her son’s legend, with Jarryd famously saying when he was younger that all he ever wanted to do was buy her a house – which he did.
Single mother Jodie gave birth to Hayne as an 18-year-old waitress, raised Hayne in rough public housing in Minto in the Sydney’s southwest and shepherded him to rugby league success.
When he won the Dally M medal as the game’s best player at just 21, Jarryd tearfully thanked ‘my mum, my rock’.
Jarryd Hayne’s wife Amellia Bonnici arrived to visit Jarryd’s mother on Thursday carting containers of food
Hayne made his first report to a Central Coast police station earlier this week, dressed in white shorts, a navy jacket and Birkenstock
Now Hayne faces a grim countdown to the day of his sentencing on May 6 at the Newcastle District Court, with Judge Helen Syme saying that a custodial sentence – in other words, jail – is ‘inevitable’.
Family matriarch Jodie cast a wary eye at media peering in from outside the court room during Monday’s sensational court appearance, her boy hugging Amellia, who he married in January after five years together.
Hayne avoided going into custody on the spot – with his manager Wayne Beavis producing a $50,000 as surety, an increase on a previous bail amount of $20,000.
Hayne’s bail conditions include not leaving the local area except to see his lawyer or accountant, and reporting daily to the local police station.
Through the week, it is understood Ms Hayne has been assisting her son and daughter-in-law in running errands and caring for their two children, aged one and four.
She has also been fending off media inquiries like a pro – raising a hand and saying: ‘I’m not interested – thank you anyway’, when approached for comment on her son.
Ms Hayne has always been a part of her son’s legend, Jarryd famously saying when he was younger that all he ever wanted to do was buy his single mother a home
Jarryd Hayne and Amellia Bonnici are pictured arriving for the final day of his retrial where he was found guilty of sexual assault
But then, this is not the first time she’s been by her beloved son’s side when he’s been in trouble.
In 2009, the same year he won the Dally M, Ms Hayne told sports writer Jessica Halloran of her fury at him when he was shot at during a night out in Kings Cross the previous year.
‘After the Kings Cross shooting, I cuddled and cuddled him then went off my brain at him,’ she said.
‘I said: “what were you doing? You hang around with dogs and you get fleas, mate.
‘It’s the worst feeling … that I could have seen my son in the morgue.’
Now, she faces the prospect of her boy, who became one of the biggest names in Australian sport in 2015 as he attempted to make it in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, facing up to 14 years in prison.
Hayne’s conditions included he not leave his local area except to see his lawyer or accountant, and report daily to the local police station. Pictured: Ms Bonnici arriving to visit his mother on Thursday
