Danushka’s second bail application to be taken up today
November 17, 2022 08:23 am
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka will make a second bid to be released from custody after a similar request was refused earlier this month.
The 31-year-old is behind bars on remand after being charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
He will make a desperate request for release in Sydney Downing Centre Court on Thursday.
Police allege the international cricket star matched with a woman on a dating app and they chatted several times before they met on November 2.
The pair had drinks in the city before they went back to the woman’s home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs about 11pm, according to police.
Mr Gunathilaka then allegedly ignored the woman’s request to “take it slow” and instead choked and assaulted the 29-year-old woman in her own home.
The top order batsman allegedly forced himself on top of the woman when the pair moved to the bedroom. Police claim the woman was uncomfortable and agreed to continue with sexual activity only if Mr Gunathilaka wore a condom.
“He protested, but eventually agreed,” police documents tendered to the court stated.
The court was told the woman later found the condom on the floor beside the bed.
Police allege the woman was “in shock” and did not consent to sex without a condom. She again asked him to use a condom but he refused and forcefully engaged in sexual activity, according to police claims.
During the several hours he remained at the woman’s home, Mr Gunathilaka allegedly choked the woman multiple times and slapped her on the buttocks.
The woman was “frozen and in shock” before the international cricketer asked her to order an Uber for him, police say. He left her home just before 1am.
Police claim the woman woke up the next morning with sore and swollen lips and called two friends to tell them about the incident. She also contacted a counselling service and saw her doctor the morning after the alleged sexual assaults.
She told police she was unable to work because she “couldn’t stop crying”.
Mr Gunathilaka was arrested outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel on November 6 as his team were set to depart Australia.
He has not entered any pleas to the charges.
On Thursday, the court was told the international cricket star would make a second application for bail after the first request was refused by the Local Court on November 7.
The court was told that the defence had tendered new information in support of the application.
Magistrate Janet Wahlquist will hear the arguments and make a decision on Thursday afternoon.
Source: News.com.au
--Agencies
