Australian Court Grants Bail to Sri Lankan Cricketer Gunathilaka Amid Rape Accusations

Sri Lanka’s batsma Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested by Australian police on 6 November after a woman accused him of a series of sexual assaults. Her accusations led to the Sri Lankan cricket authority to suspend the batsman from all cricket fixtures with immediate effect.

After spending 11 nights in prison, Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka was granted bail by the Sydney court on Thursday. The court, however, made several conditions including a $150,000 surety and reporting to the local police every day, before ordering him to be freed from jail.

Gunathilaka will have to stay inside his house between 9pm and 6am and is not allowed to contact his accuser.

The Sydney local court has also banned the cricketer from accessing Tinder and other dating applications.

The 31-year-old cricketer is charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent after he met the complainant on Tinder.

Court documents allege that the cricketer throttled the woman during the assault so hard that at one point she "feared for her life".

Gunathilaka was in Australia to play in the T20 men’s World Cup at the time of his arrest. He has played eight Tests, 47 one-day international (ODIs) and 46 T20Is (20-over internationals) for Sri Lanka since making his international debut in November 2015.