Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has had three out of his four sexual assault charges dropped after he allegedly raped a Sydney woman.
The 32-year-old was facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent while in Sydney for the T20 World Cup, however, the public prosecutor withdrew three of the charges in a Sydney court on Thursday.
The batsman allegedly met up with the 29-year-old woman for a date in November 2022 before raping her when they returned to her home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Gunathilaka’s lawyer Alen Sahinovic opposed the delay, arguing his client was being subjected to undue hardship as a foreign citizen with strict bail conditions and limited familial and social support.
Gunathilaka travelled to Australia with Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team last year but only played in their first game before being ruled out of the competition with a hamstring tear.
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He was arrested in the early hours of November 6 at Sydney’s Hyatt Regency Hotel, shortly before he was scheduled to board a flight home with the rest of the team after they bowed out of the tournament.
He is set to reappear in court to make a plea on July 13.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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