International cricket star accused of rape after Tinder date allowed to use social media again after court ruling
- Danushka Gunathilaka can use Facebook and Instagram again
- He faces four counts of nonconsensual intercourse
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka, accused of rape, is allowed to use Facebook and Instagram again after his bail has been changed.
Gunathilaka, 31, applied for a change of bail at the Downing Center Local Court in Sydney on Thursday.
He faces four counts of non-consensual sexual intercourse and has yet to enter a plea.
Gunathilaka was initially barred from using Tinder and other social media platforms when he was released on bail in November 2022.
His bail conditions were changed in February so he could return to WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging platform owned by Facebook parent company Meta and popular in his home country, and go out at night.
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka (pictured) is accused of sexually assaulting a woman he met on Tinder in Sydney
The latest change to his bail allows Gunathilaka to use his existing Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The court was previously told that the alleged victim was harassed on social media and had to close her accounts.
Danushka Gunathilaka’s Tinder profile is pictured
Gunathilaka’s case has been postponed for three weeks to allow the prosecution to collect more information.
After matching on Tinder, meeting up for a date and going back to her home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the complainant alleges the cricketer refused to wear a condom and strangled her three times.
The batsman reportedly forced himself on top of the woman, who cannot be identified, as the pair moved into the bedroom.
Police allege that the woman felt uncomfortable and agreed to continue sexual activity only if Gunathilaka wore a condom.
“He protested but eventually agreed,” the police claim in the court documents.
The woman told police she later found the condom on the floor next to the bed.
Police say 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 instead violently engaged in sexual activity, according to police allegations.
During the hours he spent in the woman’s house, Gunathilaka allegedly strangled the woman several times and hit her on the buttocks.
Police claim the woman was “frozen and in shock” before the international cricketer asked her to order him an Uber. He left her house just before 1 AM.
The alleged victim told police she was in pain and swollen and was unable to work the next day because she “couldn’t stop crying.”
Gunathilaka traveled to Australia with Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team last year but only played in their first game before being ruled out of competition with a hamstring injury.
He was arrested at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sydney in the early hours of October 6, shortly before he was to board a flight home with the rest of the team after they left the tournament.
Danushka Gunathilaka (centre) is pictured at Downing Center court in Sydney
The cricketer was given permission to move into a one-bedroom apartment in inner west Sydney before Christmas last year.
Gunathilaka has previously surrendered his passport and has been ordered not to approach any international departure point as a condition of his bail.
His bail was secured by a $150,000 bond from a “friend of a friend” and another $50,000 from the cricketer.
Gunathilaka’s case will be heard in court on April 27.