World · East Asia & Pacific · 2 hrs ago
Former NRL player Manase Fainu released on parole after stabbing sentence
Former NRL player Manase Fainu has been released on parole after serving time in prison for a stabbing.
In 2019, he stabbed Faamanu Levi during a fight in a car park at Wattle Grove, in Sydney’s south-west, and a jury found him guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Fainu was sentenced to eight years in prison for the attack, which punctured Levi’s lung and affected his mental health.
While in prison, Fainu said he witnessed stabbings, drug deals gone wrong and extortion.
He found the move back to freedom unsettling, saying he felt anxious during day releases and struggled to eat or speak when he returned home.
A social media photo during a day release led to accusations that he had used a phone illegally, and he spent two days in solitary confinement after returning to prison.
His parole marks a difficult transition out of jail, after his promising rugby league career was likely ended by his imprisonment.
Former NRL player Manase Fainu was released on parole on Friday after serving time for stabbing Faamanu Levi.
A jury found Fainu guilty of wounding Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The stabbing happened during a brawl at a church dance in Sydney’s south-west in 2019.
Fainu was sentenced to eight years in prison.
He said adjusting to life outside prison had made him anxious.
- Who
- Manase Fainu, a former NRL player, was released on parole. Faamanu Levi was the person he stabbed.
- What
- Fainu was released on parole after serving a prison sentence for stabbing Levi.
- When
- Friday. The article was published on October 30, 2026.
- Where
- Fainu was imprisoned in Sydney; the stabbing took place at Wattle Grove in Sydney’s south-west.
- Why
- Fainu was serving an eight-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of wounding Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Fainu stabbed Faamanu Levi during a brawl at a church dance in Wattle Grove.
A jury found Fainu guilty of wounding Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Fainu was released on parole.
- Sentence
- Eight years in prison
- Victim
- Faamanu Levi
- Offence
- Wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
- Stabbing location
- Wattle Grove, Sydney’s south-west
- Release
- On parole on Friday
1 source
What people are saying
I just kept looking over my shoulder
I’m all right now, but on my first couple of day releases, I was panicking
You don’t feel comfortable in the open world
guarded and scared