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Danushka Gunathilaka (above) unsuccessfully applied for bail at the Downing Center Local Court earlier this month in a hearing closed to the public
Sri Lankan international cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been released on bail by an Australian court after agreeing to offer $150,000 bail and hand over his passport.
During a second bail application on Thursday, Sydney’s local court heard that the alleged rape victim of the cricketer has been harassed by fans in Sri Lanka in multiple social media posts.
The multi-millionaire top batsman – in his second week behind bars – appeared in court via video link, dressed in prison green, after hiring a new lawyer, eminent lawyer Murugan Thangaraj, SC.
The 31-year-old cricketer is accused of four times having sexual intercourse without consent.
Mr Thangaraj offered to have his client wear a satellite-tracking ankle bracelet and a supporter to provide a $150,000 bond, claiming that the sex between him and his alleged victim was consensual.
Thangaraj said that if Gunathilaka breached his bail then ‘of course his cricket career is over, but he would be in trouble with the Sri Lankan government’.
He wondered how he could escape Australia without a passport: ‘What is he going to do to walk to Circular Quay and hide on a cruise ship?’
Multi-millionaire batter Danushka Gunathilaka is in jail while on remand for allegedly raping a Sydney woman he met on Tinder
Police allege the Sri Lankan batsman (above) raped the woman while he was in Australia while his team took part in the T20 World Cup cricket tournament
Magistrate Janet Walquist Released on bail under strict conditions, he reports to the police daily, observes a curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. and hands over his passport.
She also placed restrictions on his access to existing social media accounts, including Tinder and Instagram, except in the presence of his lawyers.
The $150,000 bail was provided by a Melbourne woman known as Mrs De Silva.
Prosecutor Kerry-Ann McKinnon pleaded against bail, saying the cricketer posed a huge flight risk and that in other cases defendants had their satellite anklets cut off.
Gunathalika has been behind bars since she was accused of raping a 29-year-old Australian woman in Sydney’s eastern suburbs during the T20 World Cup.
He faces four counts of non-consensual sexual intercourse, allegedly committed over a two-hour period in Rose Bay on Nov. 2.
Details of the woman’s night out with Gunathilaka at an Opera House bar and then a pizzeria before she was allegedly raped were revealed earlier this month.
Police facts say that during the alleged rapes, the top order batter strangled her in the throat and refused her request to wear a condom.
According to police facts, the woman had several drinks at the Opera Bar with Gunathilaka before taking the ferry back to the woman’s home in Rose Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs at around 11pm.
The woman asked Gunathilaka to “take it easy,” but police allege he strangled her while sexually assaulting her at home.
The batsman reportedly forced himself on top of the woman as the pair moved into the bedroom.
According to police records, the woman agreed to continue sexual activity only if Gunathilaka wore a condom, and “he protested but eventually agreed,” reluctantly.
Details of the star’s night out with the woman were revealed after a suppression order restricting access to what could be reported on the 31-year-old’s alleged crimes was lifted
Police facts presented to the court claim the woman had difficulty breathing and was “in shock” when she again asked him to use a condom, and he refused before engaging in violent sexual activity.
Gunathilaka allegedly strangled the woman several times and hit her buttocks, according to police facts, and the woman was “frozen and in a state of shock” before the Sri Lankan finally left her home around 1am.
Police allege the woman woke up the next morning with pain and swollen lips and sought medical attention for alleged assault.
Gunathilaka has already applied unsuccessfully for bail at Downing Center local court in a hearing closed to the public before a suppression order was lifted.
The star, who did not play in any major T20 World Cup matches due to injury, was arrested at a hotel in Sydney’s central business district on November 6 as he and teammates prepared to leave the country after being kicked out of the competition hours earlier. were crashed.
His former lawyer said at the time that the cricketer was “holding on well given the circumstances” and “had the full support of the Sri Lankan High Commission and the Sri Lankan Cricket Board, so he is fine at this point.”
But he said Gunathilaka would be “deeply concerned” if he could not return to Sri Lanka as it could take a year or more to finalize the case.
Gunathilaka has been suspended by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board while on remand.
Gunathilaka’s lawyer said his client (pictured in a courtroom sketch) was doing the best he could in a Sydney jail
Appearing via AVL of Parklea Correctional Center earlier this month, Danusha Gunathilaka looked calm and composed and wore prison green
Gunathilaka has played eight tests for Sri Lanka, as well as 47 one-day internationals and 46 T20 matches.
Sri Lanka finished fourth in Group One with two wins and three losses, including a narrow defeat to England at the SCG.
Danushka Gunathilaka (pictured) has been charged with the alleged rape of an Australian woman at a home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in early November