Manase D Day

[Eagle 1]

If he had have chosen a judge only trial this would have been done a year ago. There's obviously enough evidence to have a chance of being found guilty hence not going for only the judge.

100% EoL, This farce has gone on long enough. Going on the only eye witness and his statement, the prosecutions case is looking pretty dodgy to say the least.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Did court not sit on Tuesday? No reports?

 

[The Who]

It seems that the court didn't sit on Friday, Monday or Tuesday. But it resumed today, with one of the females reported as giving this evidence:
Ms Masiasomua said she did not see who ultimately stabbed Mr Levi.
She also admitted she could not recognise anyone in the group who started the fight outside except that they seemed to be Tongans, but noted a "big guy" with a beard and another man wearing a dark blue sling.
Another witness Tony Quach previously told the court he had tied Fainu to the crime because of the sling. Fainu had previously undergone shoulder surgery and had his arm in a sling that evening, the jury heard.



Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC suggested Ms Masiasomua had not actually seen the sling, but had heard about it from others either asking her about it directly or writing about it on social media.
When speaking to police on the night of the incident, Ms Masiasomua did not mention the sling at all, the jury heard.
The trial in front of Judge Nanette Williams continues.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

It sounds a bit suss to me. I can't imagine leaving out the pertinant fact on the night a police statement was first made that the person who stabbed the victim was wearing a 'sling'. This is crucial to identifying Fainu as the offender in a dark, dimly lit car park, where there were multiple people, things happenned so quickly, people were in a panic, confusion etc..

It seems to me that the police are trying to ping this on someone. They have no idea who didi it. No one has owned up to it. The victim doesn't know. And so the police have got the witnesses to add the 'sling' to their account to make the fact that Fainu did it.

 

[Budgie]

It sounds a bit suss to me. I can't imagine leaving out the pertinant fact on the night a police statement was first made that the person who stabbed the victim was wearing a 'sling'.

I actually can’t begin to imagine how I’d feel, what I’d say to police etc. if I’d been at a peaceful gathering that ended with a big fight and a stabbing and police.

I once saw a speed boat (it was moored) burst into flames and everyone on board dive into the water except for one girl who literally just froze. She did not move despite about 20 people screaming at her to GET OFF THE BOAT. It made me realise that none of us know how we’ll react or how present we’ll be in an unexpected crisis.
So it’s possible she only remembered later. But then the more you read about the reliability of memory, the more you’d hate to have your freedom dependent on someone’s memory, especially years later.

 

[47MVEagle]

Just playing devil's advocate here - is it possible when the witness made his original statement he didn't know Fainu was an NRL player but found out later, before making his second statement?

As in "a man who I now know to be Manase Fainu..."?

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Again , very weak arguments.

Thanks for the update

 

[mickqld]

He's just had major shoulder surgery, huge NRL future ahead ,hanging out with dubious gang mates who appeared intent on causing a stir at a church social dance. Someone ends up getting stabbed. Has had prior issues with filming a sex act and posting it without consent to social media.
Call me a wowser but shouldn't you be home resting ,rehabing or just keeping away from possible trouble instead of hanging out with gang mates who weren't there to bring a plate.

 

[Southern Eagle]

It seems that the court didn't sit on Friday, Monday or Tuesday. But it resumed today, with one of the females reported as giving this evidence:
Ms Masiasomua said she did not see who ultimately stabbed Mr Levi.
She also admitted she could not recognise anyone in the group who started the fight outside except that they seemed to be Tongans, but noted a "big guy" with a beard and another man wearing a dark blue sling.
Another witness Tony Quach previously told the court he had tied Fainu to the crime because of the sling. Fainu had previously undergone shoulder surgery and had his arm in a sling that evening, the jury heard.



Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC suggested Ms Masiasomua had not actually seen the sling, but had heard about it from others either asking her about it directly or writing about it on social media.
When speaking to police on the night of the incident, Ms Masiasomua did not mention the sling at all, the jury heard.
The trial in front of Judge Nanette Williams continues.

Interesting that the judge has been changed - previously Judge Hanley and now Judge Nanette Williams

Don't know if that is a good or bad thing but do judges often get changed mid trial?

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Interesting that the judge has been changed - previously Judge Hanley and now Judge Nanette Williams

Don't know if that is a good or bad thing but do judges often get changed mid trial?

No not in my experience. For one thing, if there's a guilty verdict the judge imposes a sentence and needs to have heard all the evidence to know what facts to sentence on.
I thought Hanley had it but maybe it was flicked for some reason at the last minute last Monday? don't know

 

[Kalvin]

He's just had major shoulder surgery, huge NRL future ahead ,hanging out with dubious gang mates who appeared intent on causing a stir at a church social dance. Someone ends up getting stabbed. Has had prior issues with filming a sex act and posting it without consent to social media.
Call me a wowser but shouldn't you be home resting ,rehabing or just keeping away from possible trouble instead of hanging out with gang mates who weren't there to bring a plate.

You can only hope this whole saga has made/will make him grow up!

 

[The Who]

LATEST NEWS: Very interesting

While Manly Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu may not have signed into a Mormon church event where a man was stabbed in 2019, someone called Finau did, a jury has heard.

Under cross-examination during Fainu's trial on Thursday, officer in charge of the investigation Detective Brett Hill said one of the adults running the charity dance at Wattle Grove in Sydney had mentioned the sign-in sheet.

The unnamed adult told Senior Constable Odette Hansen that someone with the surname of Finau had signed in, but didn't say that Fainu's name was on the list, the court heard.


Detective Hill said he had never seen the document, and had not looked for it.

"You're a detective, aren't you? Did you try and find it?" defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC asked.

"I didn't really think about it," the detective replied.

Ms Cunneen said the document was clearly important and asked the officer whether he had investigated the other name, Finau.

"I don't remember," he told Parramatta District Court.

Fainu is accused of stabbing Faamanu Levi in the back at the 2019 event organised by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

After a volunteer security guard ushered Fainu and his friends off the dance floor and outside, they later allegedly returned to the car park outside the church to start a brawl.

Mr Levi was rushed to hospital after the confrontation, suffering internal bleeding and a collapsed lung.

Det Hill told the court that Fainu had voluntarily turned himself in to police after the stabbing and had no prior criminal history of violence.

A sling which the league player had been wearing for a month due to surgery was seized from his home. However, no blood was found on it and the only DNA which was detected was Fainu's, the jury heard.

The trial in front of Judge Nanette Williams continues.

 

[Yaz Eagle]

So the sling has no other DNA than Fainu’s and no blood on it. If you stab someone then what’s happened to the splash of blood that comes out? This is becoming more and more 1 witness statement vs evidence which is indicating that he didn’t stab.

 

[Stuey D]

The other issue amongst all of this is that we need to remember that the NRL were given access to the evidence before they imposed their "Stand down" rule. So they believed it was justified to not let Manase play based on the facts we have so far seen. Isn't that also extremely poor judgment on their part? Or do I have it wrong and their decision was simply an automatic ruling based on their newly incorporated system?

 

[The Who]

The other issue amongst all of this is that we need to remember that the NRL were given access to the evidence before they imposed their "Stand down" rule. So they believed it was justified to not let Manase play based on the facts we have so far seen. Isn't that also extremely poor judgment on their part? Or do I have it wrong and their decision was simply an automatic ruling based on their newly incorporated system?

It would have had to be an automatic stand down. Surely the NRL doesn't have a right to be given a look at evidence?
PV may be powerful but I don't think even he has that much influence over the laws of the land.

 

[Stuey D]

It would have had to be an automatic stand down. Surely the NRL doesn't have a right to be given a look at evidence?
PV may be powerful but I don't think even he has that much influence over the laws of the land.

Absolutely. I know though that they did have access to the Curtis Scott evidence with the altercation outside of the SCG. For some reason though that was somehow special circumstances.

 

[Snake]

The other issue amongst all of this is that we need to remember that the NRL were given access to the evidence before they imposed their "Stand down" rule. So they believed it was justified to not let Manase play based on the facts we have so far seen. Isn't that also extremely poor judgment on their part? Or do I have it wrong and their decision was simply an automatic ruling based on their newly incorporated system?

Mmm not really. NRL stood him down based on the length of possible sentencing due to the seriousness of the charges, not based on a brief of evidence. Also, evidence for a trial of this size takes months (sometimes years) to gather. He was stood down a few days after the incident.

 

[mickqld]

WOW what stellar detective work to not even think of checking the sign in register for the event. Obviously if you are being accused of being at the evnt you are made to sign in are you not. Fu*k me dead I hope I never get caught up in something requiring a detective to save my arse if that's the example.

 

[MissKate]

Seems like the ‘detective’ has a guilty until proven innocent view of the case. Glad to see our tax payer funds go to such a great cause

 

[Bearfax]

Curiouser and curiouser