Former NRL player Manase Fainu has been sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted in August of stabbing a Mormon youth leader in Sydney’s south-west.

Judge Nanette Williams handed down the sentence, which has a non-parole period of four years and three months, at Parramatta District Court on Friday.

Manase Fainu (centre) was sentenced at Parramatta District Court, after being found guilty of stabbing a Mormon youth leader in 2019.Credit:Wolter Peeters

A jury found the 24-year-old guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after he stabbed Faamanu Levi in the back, puncturing his lung, during a bloody brawl in a car park at Wattle Grove in October 2019.

The former Manly Sea Eagles hooker has not played in the NRL for three years under the code’s no-fault stand-down policy and has spent a total of 125 days in custody, Williams said.

In a victim impact statement, Levi said the incident took a toll on his mental health and made him “guarded and scared” in his social interactions.

He also said the injury to his lung meant he could no longer pursue his dream of becoming a police officer and that he applied to be a security guard “to keep those dreams alive” but lived in constant fear.

Faamanu Levi, who was stabbed in the back at a Mormon church dance.Credit:Rhett Wyman

“I’m always watching my back,” Levi said. “It has changed my life forever.”

In a character reference, former Manly coach Des Hasler said Fainu was a “work in progress” and that young men often had a “superman complex” that made them believe no harm could come to them, which could be increased by the pressures of professional sport.

He said Fainu “had the world at his feet” in 2019 and had come a long way in speaking about his feelings.

In handing down the sentence, Williams said aggravating factors included the use of a weapon and some planning being involved, as well as the fact that “the offence of carrying a knife in public must loom large” as a consideration for deterrence.

Mitigating factors included the offender’s good prospects for rehabilitation, Williams told the court.

Williams took into account the submission by defence barrister Margaret Cunneen, SC, that “any other young offender would not be in the paper”, and that Fainu’s shame had been magnified because of “constant and unrelenting media attention”, resulting in a form of extra-curial punishment.

While Williams told the court an imprisonment term was necessary, and that Fainu would most likely need substantial support to reintegrate into the community, she said there was some hope for the former NRL player.

“I hope he will be able to fulfil his impressive promise and pick up his career where he left off,” she said.

In his reference, Hasler said Fainu could be “a phoenix of sorts” for others to look up to, and that “given another chance, he could … face fire of his challenges and rise again better and wiser”.

The sentence has been backdated to July 2022 to reflect Fainu’s pre-sentence custody. He will be eligible for parole in October 2026.

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