Jarryd Hayne fears he will be a target in prison after being found guilty of rape.
Hayne’s barrister argued her client “would be a target in the general prison population… he would be regarded as a sex offender”.
During his last sentence, Hayne had to be segregated from other inmates because of his high-profile status.
His wife told the court of her distress, saying she’ll have to move to the country for support if her husband is sent to jail today.
Hayne has maintained his innocence “100 per cent”.
The trial beginning in March was his third on charges laid in November 2018 following a referral to police by the NRL integrity unit.
Weeks earlier, Hayne attended the suburban Newcastle home of a woman who cannot be identified for legal reasons on NRL grand final night 2018.
A taxi waited outside as he played the woman songs on a laptop and watched the end of the grand final with her mother.
He was found guilty of performing oral and digital sex without consent following a two-week trial in the NSW District Court.
The non-consensual sex acts lasted about 30 seconds, ending when she began to bleed, the trial heard.
Continuing his bail following the guilty verdicts on Tuesday afternoon, Judge Graham Turnbull told Hayne he should not take it as an indication of how his bail will be treated in the future, indicating he is likely to be taken into custody on Thursday while he awaits sentencing.
Hayne previously spent nine months in prison after a jury in his second trial found him guilty, a verdict overturned on appeal due to “profoundly wrong” legal directions.
The jury in the first trial was discharged after being unable to reach a verdict.
Outside court, eyes welling, Hayne said on Tuesday he gave “factual evidence”.
“I never lied to the police. I never deleted evidence. I never hid witnesses,” he said.
“You do the math,” he told the media scrum following him across the street outside court after the verdict was delivered.