Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka, who is currently detained in Australia after being charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, has reportedly launched a second bail bid.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Sri Lankan international cricketer will face a New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court hearing in December.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Monday (14), solicitor Alen Sahinovic said defence counsel had been briefed on the case and he sought a bail hearing date for Gunathilaka.
Sahinovic told the court the 30-minute hearing would be around the “unacceptable risk test only”. Under that test, which applies in all bail hearings, bail must be granted if the judge is satisfied the applicant does not pose an unacceptable risk to the community or of failing to appear in court.
The charges are not considered “show cause” offences where there is an onus on the accused to show why their detention is not justified. Registrar George Galanis listed the bail hearing on December 8.
31-year-old Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested in the early hours of November 6 at the Hyatt Regency on Sussex Street following Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 World Cup loss to England. The team flew home without him.
Gunathilaka has been charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent. He is accused of repeatedly choking and sexually assaulting a 29-year-old woman in Sydney on November 2, days after they matched on Tinder.
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the Police facts allege the complainant had been clear that she “did not consent to engaging in sexual intercourse without a condom” or sexual intercourse that involved choking.
The document states Gunathilaka lives in Sri Lanka with his parents, has “no ties to the Sydney or Australian community” and that “investigators believe he is a flight risk”.
His initial bail application was refused by magistrate Robert Williams in Downing Centre Local Court on November 7.
The hearing was held in closed court before a suppression order application brought by police was withdrawn on November 9.
Sri Lanka Cricket has suspended Gunathilaka from all forms of the game. (NewsWire)