Sri Lanka cricket suspends Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket over rape charge

Colombo: Sri Lanka Cricket has suspended batter Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with “immediate effect” on Monday after he was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in Australia

Gunathilaka was arrested early Sunday at his Sydney hotel and was charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent. The 31-year-old had traveled to Australia as part of Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team. He remains in jail after a court declined his bid for bail on Monday.

“The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket decided to suspend national player Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect and will not consider him for any selections after being informed that Mr. Gunathilaka was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a woman in Australia.” the statement from SLC read.

“Furthermore, Sri Lanka Cricket will take the necessary steps to promptly carry out an inquiry into the alleged offense, and, upon conclusion of the aforementioned court case in Australia, steps will be taken to penalize the said player if found guilty,” the statement added.

SLC added that the cricket board will provide all the support to Australian law enforcement authorities.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to emphasize that it adopts a “zero tolerance” policy for any such conduct by a player and will provide all the required support to the Australian law enforcement authorities to carry out an impartial inquiry into the incident.”

The cricketer had spent a night in custody at the Surry Hills Police Station before appearing in handcuffs and a gray T-shirt via video link at the court to seek bail on Monday after he was charged with four counts of sexual assault.

New South Wales state police said on Sunday sex crimes squad detectives had investigated the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last week.

Police said the pair met after communicating for several days on a dating app.

Detective Superintendent Jane Doherty, commander of the New South Wales state Sex Crimes Squad, said the pair had then arranged to meet.

“They had drinks and went for something to eat before going back to the young lady’s home,” Doherty told police.

She said police would allege that “the male assaulted the female a number of times whilst performing sexual acts upon her”.

Gunathilaka traveled to Australia with Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team but only played in the team’s first game, a loss against Namibia, before being ruled out of the competition with a hamstring tear.

Gunathilaka made his international debut in 2015 and has played eight Tests, 47 ODIs and 46 T20s.

With inputs from agencies

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