- NRL’s Fainu brothers collaborate to prepare parents for life
- Struggling family hit with huge legal bills
- Manase Fainu jailed for stabbing church youth leader
The brothers of a football star who was jailed for stabbing a youth leader outside a dance at a Mormon church have spent a fortune to fulfill a promise to buy their parents their first family home.
Former Manly star Manase Fainu was sentenced to eight years in prison for stabbing church youth leader Faamanu Levi in a fight outside a dance in Wattle Grove, Sydney, late on the night of October 25, 2019.
The highly touted Sea Eagles player was on track to earn a huge salary, which he was using to help support his struggling parents and eight siblings.
Luckily, Manase’s soccer-playing brothers Latu, Sione and Samuela stepped up and bought the family a six-bedroom house in western Sydney.
NRL siblings Sione, Samuela and Latu Fainu (pictured left to right) bought their parents their first family home.
The fourth brother, Manase Fainu (pictured with his father Chris and mother Lily) is behind bars for stabbing a church leader and had been supporting his large family.
The home has a large pool, outdoor entertaining area, and a large backyard for the grandkids.
“It’s been a struggle,” said mom Lily. news corporation.
‘My husband Chris has worked two jobs to support the children. We have always lived on a tight budget and have been struggling for many weeks with bills.’
The family had also shelled out more than $200,000 in legal fees to help their son fight the charges.
“We had to fight for what we believed in,” Lily said.
‘Let’s leave an empty room in the house for Manase. She will be home in two and a half years to enjoy it with us.”
Latu, Sione and Samuela, who play for the Tigers and Lily, have made their mother incredibly proud.
“What the boys have done is wonderful,” Lily said. ‘We are very happy and very grateful.
Mum Lily (pictured with her son Latu and husband Chris) is so proud of her children for the incredible act and says they will leave a room free for Manase when she returns home.
Latu (pictured before his move to the Tigers) has said it has always been his dream to buy his mother a house.
‘And their manager Mario… what a great influence he has been on the boys.
‘I hope this story can inspire other young children and show them that they can become home buyers when they are young.
—Just like my children.
In 2021, Latu was touted as the man to replace playmaker Daly Cherry Evans at Manly when he retired.
When interviewed about his future, the 16-year-old said he planned to use his money to help his struggling parents.
‘I want to buy my mom a house. Being able to do it would be a dream come true. That’s what I want to do,” she said to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Burgess brothers, Sam, Tom, Luke and George, were the last quartet of brothers to take the field at the same time for South Sydney in 2013.