Former Manly hooker Manase Fainu has said he helped prevent a plan to stab ex-Parramatta star Jarryd Hayne after the pair met at a Sydney prison.
Fainu, who was released on parole on Friday, said inmates at the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre in Berkshire Park had discussed attacking Hayne when he arrived at the facility in 2023.
Hayne was serving a sentence after being found guilty of two sexual assault charges arising from an incident in Newcastle in 2018. His convictions were quashed by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in June 2024, and the Director of Public Prosecutions later decided not to pursue a fourth trial.
Fainu said he and other Pacific Islander inmates decided to protect Hayne, who is also of Pacific Islander heritage, while he continued to contest the allegations.
“We found out a day before that he was coming into the jail,” Fainu said. “There were talks already, the Aussie boys were saying, ‘When he comes in, we’re going to blade him 1-2-3’.”
He said the group confronted Hayne and asked him whether he was guilty.
“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.”
Fainu said the threat subsided after other prisoners learned that the islander inmates would intervene if Hayne was attacked.
“The islanders looked after him. As soon as they got the word across, all the [other] boys backed off,” he said.
Hayne said he was grateful to Fainu for supporting him while he was in prison.
“Given my profile and charges, I knew I would receive unwanted attention while I was in jail,” Hayne 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, who made 34 first-grade appearances for Manly between 2018 and 2019, said he hoped to make an unlikely return to the NRL. He also described witnessing stabbings and other disturbing incidents during his time behind bars.
