Sri Lankan batsman Danushka Gunathilaka gets some relief in sexual assault case in Australia

Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka, who was accused of rape by a woman last year, on Thursday cleared three out of four sexual assault charges in Sydney. Gunathilaka was accused of having sex without consent four times, for which the 32-year-old was arrested by the Sydney Police from the team hotel during the T20 World Cup in November last year.

However, the public prosecutor dropped the three charges in a Sydney court. According to the police, the Sri Lankan batsman and the 29-year-old woman met through a dating app. After the meeting, the two returned to the woman’s home in Sydney’s Rose Bay where Gunathilaka allegedly strangled and raped her.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “Prosecutor Hugh Buddin for the Director of Public Prosecutions told the court that one charge had been substantiated, but the remaining three counts of sexual intercourse without consent had been withdrawn.”

The remaining allegation, according to the police fact sheet filed at Downing Center Local Court, is that the Sri Lankan engaged in ‘forceful’ sexual intercourse, during which he allegedly ‘placed one arm around her neck for 20 to 30 seconds and strangled her’ Suppressed , Gunathilaka allegedly stopped the woman’s breath for six seconds before he ‘tried to remove her hand by holding the wrist of the accused, but the accused clamped her tightly around her neck for 10 seconds’.

Sri Lankan international cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has dropped three of the four charges related to the alleged sexual assault of a woman at his home in Sydney, Australia.

Prosecutors told the court that one charge was proved but the remaining three charges of sexual_ pic.twitter.com/ss6B2g7pM6— Dasuni Athoda (@athodadasuni) May 18, 2023

According to the police fact sheet, the woman ‘feared for her life and could not get away from the accused’. Gunathilaka was part of the Sri Lankan squad for the T20 World Cup last year. However, he only played in their first game against Namibia. He was ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring strain.

Gunathilaka, who represented Sri Lanka in eight Tests, 47 ODIs and 46 T20 Internationals, is no stranger to controversy. In 2021, he was suspended for a year by the SLC after he breached the team’s bio-secure bubble on the tour of England along with teammates Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella.

He was also banned for six months in 2018 by the SLC after breaking the team curfew. In the same year, Gunathilaka was also suspended after his unnamed friend was accused of raping a Norwegian woman. In 2017, the board suspended him for six limited-overs games after it was revealed that Gunathilaka had missed training sessions and prepared for the game without his cricket gear.