Manly Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu will reportedly ask the NRL to reconsider his suspension under the no-fault stand down policy.
The policy, which sees NRL players automatically suspended if they face a charge with a prison penalty of 11 years or greater, was applied to Fainu after he allegedly wounded a person during an incident in Wattle Grove, in Sydney's south west, during 2019.
Police charged Fainu with "wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, affray and recklessly causing grevious bodily harm in company". Fainu has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Now, two new witnesses have come forward, presenting evidence which will claim Fainu didn't commit the act, while, according to a Sydney Morning Herald report, police will also treat one of their own witnesses as unfavourable.
Fainu's bail conditions were reportedly changed on Monday, meaning he only needs to report to police three times per week instead of every day, while he can also travel on his own between 6am and 8pm, instead of being chaperoned by his parents at all times.
Fainu's case was pushed to the background of the rugby league news cycle after it was delayed by 12 months due to the COVID pandemic, while St George Illawarra Dragons' lock Jack de Belin also missed time under the same rule before two juries couldn't reach a verdict.
Mario Tartak, Fainu's manager, told The Sydney Morning Herald that he was urging the NRL to allow Fainu to play again.
โIโm hopeful the NRL considers the impact COVID has on the strain of the legal system,โ Tartak said.
It's understood Fainu's lawyer, Paul McGirr, told the court during a meeting on Monday that the unfavourable witness, Jona Faingaa, had allegedly admitted to carrying out the act, before changing his story.
โBasically they will treat one of their own witnesses as unfavourable, which is the bloke who has admitted to doing it,โ McGirr said.
โOriginally he met with family members and the community and said it was him. After the incident, he admitted to doing it, to dumping the knife and now he has backflipped.
โBearing in mind that he was allegedly owed a debt, that all made sense... He was the person who had a grievance with someone who was going to be at that location.
โHe will be treated as an unfavourable witness by the Crown because it doesnโt suit their case theory. On top of the unfavourable witness, there are also issues with two other witnesses who werenโt interviewed.
โSo the police havenโt interviewed all the witnesses that he admitted to doing it to, and secondly there are two other witnesses who were present at the scene who also werenโt interviewed by police, who we envisage will be coming along to say it wasnโt our client who did the actual stabbing.
โIt certainly gives weight that it wasnโt my client and based on those particular factors."
