Manly young gun Manase Fainu is set to miss another year of NRL action after his trial was once again delayed.
The Daily Telegraph's Steve Zemek reports that Fainu's trial surrounding charges of a knife attack at a church ceremony is to be rescheduled for July next year, due to the COVID outbreak affecting the country.
The 23-year-old was initially charged with a range of charges, including recklessly causing bodily harm. This was in relation to an alleged knife attack at a Sydney Morman church dance in 2019.
The long-awaited trial was initially slated for early 2020 but was rescheduled for this week.
Earlier on Monday, Mr. Fainu had elected to face the jury instead of his hearing being a judge-alone trial. The announcement was made by his defence barrister prior to the court proceedings.
Due to the lockdown in Sydney, it is currently impossible to run the trial due to difficulties bringing in the jury and witnesses.
COVID has also created a large backlog of cases, which has forced courts to experience significant delays to hearings.
The Judge for the case, Gina O'Rouke, told the court that the next available date is June next year, per News Corp.
This was due to the trial being two weeks long. This fell at the same time as a Mormon mission, which the alleged victim will be attending.
As a result, the trial had to be pushed back even further. A new tentative date of July 25 has been reached.
The court heard the possibility of the date being moved forward to the original June timeline. This would be possible if the alleged victim was able to pre-record their evidence.
Fainu's barrister was supportive of that idea, due to the impact that further delays have on her client.
“It’s regrettable that it’s a month later than the court could accommodate, particularly my client has some sporting commitments to which he would be hopeful of returning to as soon as possible,” defence barrister Margaret Cunneen said.
As the hearing currently stands, Manase Fainu will not be available for selection until mid-August providing he is acquitted.
This is due to the leagues "no-fault" stand down rule. This ruling means that any player charged with a crime with a maximum jail sentence of over 11 years is unavailable for selection. They will need to wait until the end of court proceedings before returning to their club.
These recent courtroom delays will result in the hooker being sidelined for close to three years by the end of the trial.