
Hung jury in Jack De Belin's rape trial.
NRL star Jack de Belin and his friend Callan Sinclair remain accused of sexual assault after a jury was unable to reach any verdict and discharged.
The NSW State of Origin representative, 29, and Sinclair, 23, pleaded not guilty to raping a woman, then 19, in a North Wollongong unit in the early hours of December 9, 2018.
Following a three-and-a-half week trial and nearly two days of deliberations, the Wollongong District Court jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on any of the five charges against each man.
The rape trial of sidelined @NRL star Jack de Belin has been called off with the jury discharged. After hours of deliberations, jurors told the court that they couldn't reach a unanimous or majority verdict, meaning a potential re-trial. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/WQJ9fWDGrx
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 30, 2020
Judge Andrew Haesler then gave the jury the option to return a "majority verdict" whereby 11 out of 12 jurors could be in agreement.
But minutes after considering this option the jury returned once again.
When the jury foreperson was asked if given more time there was a chance of a majority verdict the woman answered: "Absolutely not".
Judge Haesler said he would do everything in his power to ensure a "rapid retrial" of the men who were seen shaking and hanging their heads in the dock.
Outside the court Sinclair's lawyer Graeme Morrison said they were "really disappointed in what happened today," and they would be "back to fight these charges".
Read: Jarryd Hayne, Jack de Belin and the sports players who never learned how to have sex.
Charges laid over NZ volcano catastrophe.
Thirteen parties have been charged over the deaths of 22 people during a volcanic eruption on a New Zealand island in 2019.
The charges by New Zealand's workplace safety watchdog follow a major probe into the eruption of the Whakaari volcano.
The blast, which claimed 14 Australian lives, happened as tours to White Island were taking place and despite warnings of a heightened risk of eruption.