Danushka Gunathilaka leaves Sydney after being cleared of rape

Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has left Sydney after being acquitted of raping a Tinder date by allegedly removing his condom without her consent.

Photographs were posted on social media of Gunathilaka leaving Sydney and he is expected to return to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan batter was found not guilty last week of raping the woman through the act of “stealthing”.

Judge Sarah Huggett acquitted the 32-year-old as he sat at Sydney’s Downing Centre district court on Thursday.

“The evidence establishes that there was no opportunity for the accused to remove the condom during intercourse because that intercourse was continuous,” the judge said in handing down the verdict.

Huggett found that the alleged victim, who cannot be named, was an intelligent witness who did not deliberately give false evidence, but was motivated by a desire to paint the cricketer in an unfavourable light.

“I find that the evidence regarding the complaint far from supports the complainant. Rather it undermines the reliability of her evidence,” Huggett said.

Gunathilaka and the woman matched on the dating app and met for drinks at Opera Bar in November 2022 before having pizza together in the Sydney CBD and then catching a ferry to the woman’s eastern suburbs home.

The woman accused him of various acts of aggression and violence, such as slapping her on the buttocks, forcefully kissing her and bruising her lips, and choking her during sex. (Colombo Gazette)