Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been granted bail by the Downing Centre Local Court upon hearing that he had the backing of Sri Lankan government and cricket association, with a surety of $150,000 offered. The case is scheduled to return to court on January 12.
It was on November 6 that the 31-year-old was arrested on Sussex Street after a 29-year-old woman had accused him of sexual assault after they matched on Tinder. The cricketer was charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent and was refused bail in the Local Court on November 7. A bail application was then made in the NSW Supreme Court, which was listed to be heard on December 8.
However, after the defence barrister Murugan Thangaraj, SC, applied for Gunathilaka’s release, the case reappeared in the Local Court list on Thursday. Thangaraj submitted that his client was “being supported by a Sri Lankan cricket association and [the] Sri Lankan government”. “If he breaches his bail, of course his career would be over,” he said.
The Police Prosecutor Sergeant told that they accepted the new bail conditions after the argument on the accused failing to appear before the court and endangering the safety of the complainant.
Following the revelation of Gunathilaka being arrested, the Sri Lanka Cricket Association had suspended the all rounder from all forms of the game.
