Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Sydney.
Gunathilaka was arrested at about 1am on Sunday after a 29-year-old woman made a complaint to the police last week.
He was arrested at a hotel on Sussex Street in the Sydney CBD, where he was staying with the Sri Lankan T20 cricket team.
Police allege the 31-year-old cricketer sexually assaulted the woman at her home in Rose Bay on Wednesday evening, after they’d been talking for several days on an online dating app.
On Saturday, detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad and Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command commenced a joint investigation under Strike Force Veteran to investigate the allegations.
Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty told reporters on Sunday the police will allege in court that Gunathilaka assaulted the woman multiple times “over several hours”.
“Police will allege that whilst they were in the home, the male assaulted the female a number of times whilst performing sexual acts upon her,” she said.
“She communicated over a number of days before arranging to meet up, met up in a public place with other people that were aware that she was there to meet someone for a date.”
Following his arrest, Gunathilaka was taken to Sydney City Police Station and charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
He was refused bail and is expected to appear before Waverley Local Court on Monday, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
Gunathilaka travelled to Australia with Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team, but only played in one game against Namibia.
The Sri Lanka team was knocked out of the tournament on Saturday after losing to England. The rest of the squad flew home on Sunday morning.
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