Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka pursued a Tinder date “relentlessly” before an alleged sexual assault, prosecutors have told a Sydney court, as his lawyers insist the woman has created an unsustainable “narrative”.
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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”.
Ms Steedman said it was rough and 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.
“It is clear there is a mutual flirtation throughout … but the accused was pursuing her quite relentlessly prior to meeting up,” Ms Steedman said.
The prosecutor said in the woman’s bedroom, Mr 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 Mr Gunathilaka had previously kissed her “forcefully” and become aggressive on the way home and on the couch.
Today, Ms Steedman said he agreed to initially wear the condom “to appease her” and had “plenty of opportunity” to remove it.
Danushka Gunathilaka is accused of "stealthing" a woman he met online.(AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
“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.
Ms Steedman said the claim of the second condom was “a deliberate mistruth”.
Woman’s story ‘unsustainable in light of evidence’
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.”
Mr Thangaraj said the woman did not remember matters inconsistent with her narrative.
During their online interactions, Mr Gunathilaka at one point said he was too tired after a game to meet the woman on a different night out, which Mr 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.
Mr 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.
Judge Sarah Huggett will hand down her decision next Thursday.
