Cricketer refused bail over alleged sexual assault
Sri Lankan international cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka could spend his summer staring at the walls of a Sydney prison cell, where he is in custody for the alleged sexual assault of a woman, after he was refused bail by a magistrate and had his case adjourned to January.
His lawyer has indicated he is considering urgently applying for bail in the NSW Supreme Court.
Gunathilaka, 31, has been suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket from all forms of the game after he was arrested on Sunday while packing his bags at the team hotel on Sussex Street for a 3.30am departure to Sri Lanka, following the side’s Twenty20 World Cup loss to England at the SCG on Saturday night.
Gunathilaka has been charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent and spent Sunday night in custody. The Sri Lanka squad flew home without him.
Gunathilaka travelled to Australia with Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team but only played in their first game, a loss against Namibia, before being ruled out of the competition with a hamstring tear. He has played nearly 100 one-day and T20 internationals for Sri Lanka as well as a handful of tests.
Gunathilaka appeared via video link in Downing Centre Local Court on Monday from Surry Hills cells handcuffed and wearing a grey T-shirt, blue jeans and thongs, as his lawyer Ananda Amaranath made a bail application.
Interim suppression orders were made and there will be a further hearing today to determine their continuation.
The bail application was heard in closed court and about a dozen reporters waited in the corridor for news of the outcome.
Magistrate Robert Williams refused bail and the case was adjourned to January 12, a period of 9½ weeks.