Sexual assault accused Danushka to know his fate on Thursday
Charged with sexual assault, Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka will know his fate on September 28, when Judge Sarah Huggett announces her decision after four days of trial ended on Thursday at the Downing Center Courts in Sydney.
Gunathilaka, 32, who was part of the Sri Lanka squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, has been stranded in Australia since November 2022 after a woman whom he met through a ‘dating app’ alleged him of sexual assault.
He was charged by the police with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent in Sydney’s east, after a 29-year-old female claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the former Sri Lanka opener at her home in Rose Bay.
Gunathilaka was arrested on November 6, 2022 at the team hotel in Sydney, and accordingly to New South Wales police the incident had occurred four days prior, after both met at a bar nearby, following communicating for number of days via the online dating app.
Gunathilaka was initially refused bail, as it was assumed of posing a flight risk and was held in custody at Parklea Correctional Centre for 11 days after taking into custody. He was granted bail on surety bail of A$ 1500,000 on November 17, subjected to a number of conditions – reporting to police daily, a curfew from 9.00pm to 6.00am, barring from contacting the complainant and a ban on accessing dating applications.
On the same date, in Downing Centre Local Court, a magistrate adjourned the matter until February 23, giving time for police finalised the evidence. However, on May 18, three of the four charges were dropped by the prosecutor, and the judgeonly trial for one count of sexual intercourse without consent began on September 18.
The charge levelled against Gunathilaka alleges that he had ‘removed his condom by stealth during sexual intercourse’, to which the trial continued until this week.
During the trial, both parties have made different statements, Gunathilaka claiming his innocence from any wrongdoings, while the complainant claiming otherwise. The victim of the alleged sexual assault case had claimed that she ‘feared for her life’ while Gunathilaka, in another twist, had claimed that he found the woman ‘weird’.
According to Australian media reports, the women had given evidence via video link on Monday, September 18, and had said that “she had matched with Gunathilaka, also known as Danny, on Tinder on October 29, and he told her he played for the Sri Lanka cricket team”.
Gunathilaka had first met the complainant at Opera Bar in Sydney, where she had been drinking with friends, before they went to Frankie’s Pizza on Hunter Street for dinner. The couple had then moved to the woman’s house in Rose Bay, after the surrounding became to be ‘quite noisy’.
The court was shown CCTC footages of the pair at the venues, on the last day of the hearing of the trial as the woman stated that she ‘wasn’t comfortable with how quickly things were moving’. The woman then stated that Gunathilaka ‘took her clothes off, and she suggested they go to the bedroom as the lounge was a communal space’.
“The complainant said she initially felt reassured when Gunathilaka performed oral sex ‘because I felt like he was interested in my pleasure, but it was forceful so I started to feel uncomfortable’,” reports stated.
“She said she told him they ‘have to use a condom’ and recalled Gunathilaka saying, ‘I don’t want to use a condom, I don’t like condoms’.”
“The complainant had said she told Gunathilaka she did not want to get pregnant or get a sexually transmitted infection,” it was further reported.
The woman had said she got a condom from her bedside table, after which she claimed that things aggravated.
“I remember trying to remove his hand from my throat. I felt fearful for my life at this point.”
She said Gunathilaka ‘hesitated’ but put one on, then started to have sexual intercourse ‘in a forceful way’ for about 15 minutes, including choking her for 20 to 30 seconds ‘at least three times’, and appeared to be smirking.
She further had said within three to five seconds of the intercourse ending, she noticed a condom on the ground. The defence barrister Murugan Thangaraj, SC, said the Crown must prove Gunathilaka ‘deliberately removed the condom against her will’, during the trial that ran for three to four days.
The matter deviated into different paths after the woman claimed that she ‘felt fearful for her life’. Gunathilaka then claimed that the woman had claimed that both of them were ‘neighbours in Thailand in their previous life’ to which he found her act ‘weird’.
During his last statement, Gunathilaka had broken down to tears claiming his innocence, via video link while a former partner of his had given evidence in support stating he was a ‘calm and loving’ person.
This is the first instance where a sportsperson of Sri Lanka has been tried for ‘sexual assault’ off the shores of the country.