Former Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu has revealed he played a role in stopping fellow inmate’s plans to stab Jarryd Hayne once he arrived at prison in Sydney.
Fainu was released on parole on Friday, having spent more than four years behind bars for stabbing a man during a brawl outside a Mormon church dance in 2019.
The 28-year-old last played in the NRL for Manly in 2019, having crossed paths with Hayne during the pair’s time at Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre in Berkshire Park.
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Speaking to the SMH, Fainu explained that rumours spread across the prison that Hayne could be in danger upon his arrival at the facility in 2023.
“We looked after him at Windsor,” Fainu said.
“We found out a day before that he was coming into the jail. There were talks already, the Aussie boys were saying, ‘When he comes in, we’re going to blade him 1-2-3’. So there were boys already planning it up.
“He’s an islander, and islanders stick together in jail. So two other boys … said ‘We’re going to back him, he’s an islander. He’s still fighting his charges… When he comes in, we’ll sit him down and ask if he did it or not’.
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“So when he landed, we told the boys, ‘If anything kicks off with Haynesy, you’re going to kick off with the other islanders’, and there were a few of us at Windsor at that time.”
Hayne was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault following an incident which occurred in 2018, but the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal revoked his convictions in 2024 after multiple trials and appeals.
Fainu went on to say: “So Haynesy came through and we sat him down and asked, ‘Did you do it or not? Just tell us the honest truth’.
“And he said, ‘No, I didn’t do it’. So we just took his word for it. We backed him … the charges (subsequently) got dropped.
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“The islanders looked after him. As soon as they got the word across, all the (other) boys backed off.”
Hayne also released a statement regarding the incident.
“Given my profile and charges, I knew I would receive unwanted attention while I was in jail,” he said.
“It was a blessing that me and Manase ended up at the same place. Manase and others had my back because they were convinced of my innocence and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Fainu, meanwhile, is plotting an NRL return, with his brothers Samuela, Sione and Latu all currently signed with the Tigers.
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