• Expected to plead not guilty for remaining charge at next court hearing

By Shehan Daniel

Three of the four sexual assault charges against Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka, made by an Australian woman last November, were withdrawn yesterday, with the remaining charge being for engaging in “forceful” sexual intercourse.

Gunathilaka, who was part of Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup squad that travelled to Australia last year, was arrested hours before the team departed back to Sri Lanka at the end of their World Cup campaign and charged on four counts following allegations by a woman in Sydney.

A Public Prosecutor told a Sydney Court yesterday that only one charge against Gunathilaka had been certified, with the other three charges against the 32-year-old cricketer being dropped.

“Apart from the alleged choking and removing the condom offence all other charges were dropped,” the player’s agent Asanka Wijewardana confirmed to the Daily Mirror.
“At the next court date he will plead not guilty to that remaining charge, then we have to wait for a date for the trial,” he added.

The next court hearing is scheduled for July 13, but it is understood that the player’s legal team is pushing to secure an earlier court date. Gunathilaka was granted bail with strict conditions two weeks after his arrest, with many of those conditions since being relaxed.