Sordid details of alleged sexual assault by cricket star Danushka Gunathilaka are revealed as his accuser faces intense cross-examination

A woman who went on a Tinder date with Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been questioned in court over whether the batsman pulled off a condom and stole it from her.

The international cricket star is facing a judge-only trial at the Downing Center District Court after pleading not guilty to one charge of sexual assault without consent.

The charge relates to an incident on November 2 last year in which Mr Gunathilaka allegedly removed a condom while having sex with a woman in her eastern suburbs home, known as stealth.

The pair first met at the Opera Bar, where CCTV footage shows them embracing as they met, before having a drink together in the city and taking the ferry back to the woman’s home.

Continuing her evidence via audio-visual link, the woman was questioned by the cricketer’s lawyer, Murugan Thangaraj SC, about the intimate moment.

The star’s lawyer, Murugan Thangaraj SC, questioned the woman about the intimate moment (photo, Danushka Gunathilaka outside court in Sydney)

The woman had told Attorney General Gabrielle Steedman on Monday that Gunathilaka tried to persuade her not to use a condom.

But Mr Thangaraj insisted this was not the case.

“He never said he didn’t want to wear a condom that night,” the attorney said Tuesday.

“He never tried to talk you into having unprotected sex.”

The alleged victim responded, “That’s not right.”

Pressed by the women about her police statement, Mr Thangaraj told the court she wrote that Mr Gunathilaka was ‘choking her with one hand’ while the other was ‘lying on the bed’.

He told the court that according to the statement, Mr Gunathilaka then started slapping the woman’s buttocks.

“You agree that he could not have removed a condom while he was choking or spanking your buttocks,” he told the woman.

He continued grilling the woman, saying his client would not have had any opportunity to remove the condom because, according to her statement, the sex “in the same way” lasted about 10-15 minutes.

The prosecutor told the court that during the intimate act, Mr Gunathilaka “removed the condom and threw it on the floor.”

The international cricket star arrived at the court with his supporters on Tuesday

But the woman says there was an opportunity for him to remove the condom, which she later saw on the floor next to the bed.

“You’re not describing him throwing a condom or anything,” Mr. Thangaraj asked the woman.

“At no time did Mr. Gunathilaka have unprotected penile and vaginal sex with you.”

The woman said this statement was “incorrect” and insisted that Mr Gunathilaka had “taken off the condom and thrown it on the floor”.

The woman admitted to Mr Thangaraj that she could have gone home alone at any time during the night, but suggested the pair continue drinking at her home.

She previously told the court that Mr Gunathilaka had kissed her “forcefully” as they waited for a ferry, and also “slapped her bottom hard.”

When they arrived at her home, the woman said she poured two glasses of wine before Mr Gunathilaka “pushed her back onto the sofa” and kissed her forcefully again.

Mr Thangaraj wondered why the woman led the cricketer to her bedroom and lit candles.

Gunathilaka’s lawyer said his client would not have had any opportunity to remove the condom during the sexual encounter.

“Your decision to lead him to the bedroom was a completely natural progression of the evening, wasn’t it?” the lawyer asked.

‘A Tinder date, with pre-planned drinks at your house after days of flirting, playing guitar, drinking wine, candles lit by you in the bedroom, it was a completely natural movement from the living room to the bedroom.’

The woman did not agree with the proposal.

The key 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.

Ms Steedman told the court the woman had consented to protected sex.

The trial continues before Judge Huggett.