Cricket star accused of sexual assault holds hands with mystery woman outside court as alleged victim reveals she feared for her life

A woman who claims she was tricked into having sex without a condom with a Sri Lankan cricketer has told a court there were moments during intercourse when she “feared” for her life.

Danushka Gunathilaka is facing a single trial at the Downing Center District Court after pleading not guilty to one charge of sexual assault without consent.

The international cricketer walked into the court complex holding hands with a blonde woman, who is not the prosecutor, ahead of the expected four-day trial before Judge Sarah Huggett on Monday morning.

He is standing trial over an incident on November 2 last year in which Attorney-General Gabrielle Steedman told the court the 32-year-old had met a woman at Sydney’s Opera Bar after previously matching on Tinder.

The batsman was in Australia at the time to play in the T20 Cricket World Cup.

The cricket star has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault without consent

It is not in dispute that the pair had chatted several times via Tinder, Instagram and video calling on WhatsApp from October 31 before their meeting three days later.

CCTV footage played in court shows the pair embracing as they meet in the Opera Bar, and other footage shows the pair kissing as they wait for the ferry back to the woman’s home .

They returned to the woman’s home in the eastern suburbs at around 11pm when the alleged assault took place, the court was told.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took to the witness box on Monday morning where she told the court she poured herself and Mr Gunathilaka a glass of wine before he started kissing her ‘quite vigorously’ on the sofa.

“He was on top of me, I remember him kissing me very forcefully,” the woman said.

‘I remember asking him, “Can we please take it slow,” because things were happening quite quickly and I wasn’t feeling comfortable. I remember him looking me in the eye as I said that and not saying anything.”

The woman told the court the couple moved into her bedroom where she asked Mr Gunathilaka to use a condom, but he said he didn’t want to because he “didn’t like them”.

Gunathilaka’s accuser told the court that the cricketer repeatedly choked her for 30 seconds, causing her breathing to become “really impaired.”

She told him she wanted to use a condom because she didn’t want to get pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted disease.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t get you pregnant, honey, don’t you trust me?'” the woman said.

‘I remember him saying he hated them, he said something like, “I hate using condoms, I don’t like them, it doesn’t feel good, you have to trust me.”

The woman said Mr Gunathilaka ‘hesitated’ before putting on the condom, making her feel uncomfortable.

Ms Steedman told the court in her earlier opening address that the intercourse lasted about 15 minutes and was ‘quite rough’.

During her testimony, the woman said she feared for her life several times.

“I remember Danny choking me and him putting one hand on my neck and the other hand being on the bed and choking me for 20 to 30 seconds,” the woman said.

She told the court that the choking happened at least three times and that at one point her breathing was “really restricted” and she tried to free his hands.

Gunathilaka is accused of ‘stealthing’: removing a condom during or just before sex without the knowledge of the partner

She said: ‘At that moment I was scared for my life.’

Mr Gunathilaka then got up from the bed, where the woman realized the condom was on the floor and he had not been wearing it.

In her opening statement, Ms Steedman said the alleged victim was “shocked” and did not feel safe to say anything because “what she is saying was fear of retaliation”.

The main issue in the trial is Mr Gunathilaka’s state of mind as to whether or not he removed the condom without the woman’s knowledge, which is known as stealth.

The court was told the woman later told friends she was unsure what had happened but thought it was ‘something bad’.

Mr Gunathilaka’s lawyer, Murugan Thangaraj SC, told the judge the Crown must prove beyond reasonable doubt that his client removed the condom “against the woman’s will”.

In his brief opening address, Mr Thangaraj said the cricketer is a man of “excellent character” who works well with the police.

He submitted that the complainant’s evidence was not credible.

The trial continues before Judge Huggett.