Possible name mix-up in trial of NRL player Manase Fainu over 2019 church stabbing

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, the 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.

READ MORE: 'Ghost footprints' unearthed at Air Force training range

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.

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.

READ MORE: Five rescued after orcas attack boat off Portuguese coast

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

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.