Single happy photo of freed Jarryd Hayne posing with his wife and lawyers sparks a furious war of words - as his high-profile barrister lets loose on woman who accused him of rape

Jarryd Hayne's barrister has become embroiled in a furious LinkedIn row where she launched an extraordinary attack on his rape accuser and defended the rugby league star's character. 

Margaret Cunneen SC shared a celebratory image of Hayne, 36, with his wife Amellia Bonnici and solicitor Lauren McDougall to LinkedIn last week, with the group posing in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

In her caption, Ms Cunneen celebrated 'justice at last' - after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his rape conviction - and described the freed former Parramatta Eels star as a 'fine and decent man'. 

But that did not go down well among some members of Ms Cunneen's professional network, with another senior lawyer, former barrister Michael McDonald, furiously objecting to the veteran barrister's characterisation of Hayne. 

Mr McDonald said that 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. 

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 that 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'. 

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.

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, I think Jarryd is guilty in some respect. He paid off a girl in the (United) States for similar things and you shouldn't get done twice for this,' posted Sydney Trains professional cleaner James Hanrahan. 

Mr Hanrahan was referring to the civil lawsuit taken by a US rape claimant against Hayne in California, which was settled in 2019 by a payment of just under $100,000.

The young American 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. 

'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 US 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 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.