The verdict on the sexual assault case filed against national cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka in a court in Sydney, Australia is scheduled to be pronounced next week.
The hearing of the case concluded today before Judge Sarah Huggett and she will hand down her decision next Thursday.
During the hearing prosecutors told the Sydney court, cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka pursued the Tinder date “relentlessly” before the alleged sexual assault, as his lawyers insisted the woman has created an unsustainable “narrative”.
The 32-year-old pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent and has this week faced a judge-alone trial.
The NSW District Court has heard the pair met up at a bar near the Opera House and went for pizza before she invited the batsman to her eastern suburbs home in November.
The Crown alleges he removed a condom he’d been asked to wear during intercourse without the woman’s knowledge — an act known as “stealthing”.
In a closing address, Crown Prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman told the judge the sexual episode “turned out very differently to what she expected or wanted”.
Prosecutor Steedman said the accused did not respect any of the woman’s requests or boundaries, arguing it was “entirely consistent” with someone who would remove his condom despite “her clear wishes to the contrary”.
The prosecutor referred to their pre-date interactions online, including his offer to pay for a flight for her to Brisbane to visit him there, which she declined.
The prosecutor said in the woman’s bedroom, Gunathilaka engaged in “a negotiation” about protection after a discussion about his preference to not use condoms.
The court has previously heard the woman did not see the cricketer remove the condom but saw it on the floor after he stopped sexual intercourse.
When the complainant testified, she alleged she was choked three times during sex — and that Gunathilaka had previously kissed her “forcefully” and become aggressive on the way home and on the couch.
Today, Steedman said he agreed to initially wear the condom “to appease her” and had “plenty of opportunity” to remove it.
“The fact that she did not see him do it stands to reason, and she says she zoned out during this period because it was so unpleasant,” the Crown said.
In his recorded police interview, the cricketer denied all wrongdoing and told investigators there were two condoms because the first one did not work.
Steedman said the claim of the second condom was “a deliberate mistruth”.
The cricketer’s defence counsel, Murugan Thangaraj SC, said the woman’s position had “morphed over time”, accusing her of giving untruthful and self-serving evidence on various topics.
“The belief that the condom came off as expressed to police was totally different to the uncertainty she expressed to a number of people,” he said, highlighting her initial conversations with two close friends.
“What she has done is to provide a narrative which has been shaped to fit the allegation.”
“A narrative that is unsustainable in light of the evidence.”
Thangaraj said the woman did not remember matters inconsistent with her narrative.
During their online interactions, Gunathilaka at one point said he was too tired after a game to meet the woman on a different night out, which Thangaraj said was “not entirely consistent with the Crown’s submission he was relentlessly pursuing”.
He highlighted that his client was an international cricketer, questioning why he would risk conduct such as choking which would leave visible injuries.
Thangaraj said the woman created an “aggressive narrative” of what happened in the lead-up to their trip to her house, including claims she was ambushed on her couch.
But he said it would be completely inconsistent with that for her to then invite him into the bedroom and light candles.
Following the hearing, Judge Sarah Huggett said she will hand down her decision next Thursday.
