By Sarah McPhee
A witness has told a court he saw NRL player Manase Fainu plunge a steak knife into the back of a youth leader during a violent brawl outside a church dance in Sydney’s south-west, and the victim “screamed in pain”.
Fainu, 24, has pleaded not guilty to wounding Faamanu Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wattle Grove, in Sydney’s south-west, on October 25, 2019.
Manly player Manase Fainu (right), supported by Manly player Josh Aloiai (centre), on Thursday.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The Manly Sea Eagles hooker arrived at court on Thursday supported by Manly prop Josh Aloiai, who is one of seven players sitting out Thursday night’s game against the Roosters after objecting to wearing the team’s pride jersey. Aloiai made no comment outside court.
Witness Tony Quach said in court that he had been at his housemate Levi’s car with four other friends, after they decided to leave the charity dance, when a group of men approached.
“I recognised Manase,” he said.
He said there was also a “big guy” who was Tongan, about 186 centimetres tall, aged in his 20s and with a mullet, who “landed the first hit” and had said he wanted to have a one-on-one on the grass.
Quach said one of his friends shouted, “he’s got a knife”, and he turned around and saw a man with a hat and sling. He said another friend was on the ground.
“Everything went crazy,” he said.
He said the lights were on at the time, and he had a “clear view” of Fainu.
Asked by Crown prosecutor Emma Curran what he saw Fainu doing, Quach said the accused was holding a steak knife with a clenched fist and his right arm was bent at a 90-degree angle. He said Fainu’s left arm was in a sling.
“Did you clearly see the accused’s face?” Curran asked.
“Yes,” Quach replied.
“He had a goatee and a cap ... he looked angry.”
Quach said he had “pushed him back, saying ‘to get out’” and Fainu stumbled backwards.
“I saw the knife plunged into Levi’s back,” he said.
Alleged victim Faamanu Levi outside court on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“Who did you see plunge the knife into Levi’s back?” Curran asked.
“The accused,” Quach replied.
He said Levi was “hunched up” and Fainu moved in front of Levi and “swung up”.
“Levi, just like, screamed in pain. He was on the ground.”
Quach told the jury he had focused on Levi, who was bleeding, and said, “every time he breathed, it just flowed out a lot”.
According to the agreed facts, Levi suffered a collapsed lung, internal bleeding and a laceration above his eyebrow.
The defence disputes Fainu was the man behind the stabbing, claiming he had no problem with anyone that night, and it was “not his fight”.
Under cross-examination, Quach said he does not know Fainu personally but knows “of him” and “pretty much he was very famous at that time”. He said he watches Instagram posts made by his friends about the NRL.
“He [Fainu] was so famous that the minute you would see him, you would know him?” defence barrister Margaret Cunneen, SC, asked.
“Yeah,” Quach replied.
Witness Tony Quach leaves court after giving evidence at Manase Fainu’s trial.Credit: AAP
He did not recall seeing Fainu in an earlier “altercation” on the dance floor inside the church hall.
Cunneen took Quach to his statement, made the morning after the stabbing, in which he said he “didn’t know it was Nase at the time”.
“I know what I said. [It was] after the incident that I recognised it was him,” Quach replied.
He disagreed with the suggestion he had talked to his friends “about who was there and who it might be”, and could not recall saying to one of his female friends that he “had found out that Nase was the one who stabbed Levi”.
Quach said he had recognised Fainu from his features, including a golden necklace and cap, and had taken “big things like injuries” into consideration, such as the “obvious” sling.
“I could see that,” he said.
It is an agreed fact that Fainu had an operation on his left shoulder in September, and was wearing a sling when he attended the dance in October.
The trial before Judge Nanette Williams resumes on Monday.
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