Rising NRL star Manase Fainu had one arm in a sling when he stabbed a youth leader in the back with his opposite hand during a frenzied late-night brawl in a church carpark, a court has been told.
Mr Fainu, 24, faced the Parramatta District Court on Tuesday for the opening day of his trial, having pleaded not guilty to wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The Manly Sea Eagles hooker denied stabbing Faamanu Levi in the back and above his right eye following a Mormon church dance in southwestern Sydney in October 2019.
Mr Levi, a church youth leader, was taken to hospital with a punctured lung and internal bleeding.
However, Mr Fainu’s high-profile barrister Margaret Cunneen SC told the jury on Tuesday that it was a case of mistaken identity and Mr Fainu had no quarrel with anyone at the dance.
Crown prosecutor Emma Curran told the jury that the brawl erupted in…
