Danushka Gunathilaka, a Sri Lankan international cricketer accused of sexually assaulting a lady while on vacation in Sydney for the T20 World Cup, wants to avoid having a jury decide his fate.
After the public prosecutor dropped three other allegations early this year, the 32-year-old is now only charged with one count of engaging in sexual activity without consent.
On Friday, when he appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court, his attorney asked that the arraignment be postponed until the filing of an application for a judge-only trial.
At a hearing on July 24, the application will be contested by crown prosecutors.
Police claim that in November 2022, after matching with the woman on Tinder, the batsman caught up with her at Sydney’s Opera Bar.
After that, the two went back to her home in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, when Gunathilaka reportedly suffocated her and sexually assaulted her without using a condom.
The cricketer allegedly choked her for more than 20 seconds, and when she attempted to get away, he allegedly squeezed even harder and “severely restricted her breathing.”
The victim “was fearing for her life and could not get away from the accused” at the time of the event, according to the police.
At Sydney’s Hyatt Regency Hotel in the wee hours of November 6, Gunathilaka was detained just before he was to take a flight home with the rest of the Sri Lankan team.
