Danushka walks free cleared of rape rap
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka walked free from an Australian Court on Thursday cleared of rape after a judge—who heard the case alone without a jury— held that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he had not worn a condom during the period of sexual intercourse.
The unnamed woman had claimed that though she had consented to sex she had not consented to unprotected sex without a condom. He had promised to use one but she had later found he hadn’t and that she had been ‘stealthed.’
In her evidence, the woman said that Gunathilaka was adamant he did not want to wear the condom despite her insistence that he do so. He allegedly told her not to worry, adding: “I won’t get you pregnant, darling”. “Don’t you trust me? You should trust me?” Gunathilaka allegedly told her that night.
During the trial, the defence lawyers attacked the credibility of the woman, claiming her story shifted over time and that she edited her version of events to paint Gunathilaka as an aggressive person.
At the end, the judge said the complainant did not have a "clear memory" of what happened around the time she saw the condom on the floor. "The evidence establishes there was no opportunity for the accused to remove the condom during the intercourse because that intercourse was continuous," she said.
Danushka was granted a judge-alone trial due in part to pre-trial media interest which otherwise might have prejudiced the outcome.
On the first day of the fourday trial which had begun on Monday last week, Danushka had flaunted an unnamed Aussie blonde of unknown repute as he walked into court. After hearing Judge Huggerfield read out the verdict, Danushka had turned round and hugged the blonde and exclaimed. ‘My life can return to normal.’
But can his cricket career which now lies in the dumps? That is the question he must ask himself. He surely must regret that costly night when he had flung to lusty winds his future prospects for a one night fling.