By Miklos Bolza

SYDNEY – A Sydney woman has been asked how Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka could have ‘stealthed’ her by removing his condom without her knowing during a sexual encounter.

The alleged victim claims she was sexually abused on November 2, 2022 at her eastern suburbs home after matching with the international batter on Tinder and meeting him at the Opera Bar for a date.

Gunathilaka allegedly told the woman he did not need to wear a condom, saying she should trust him and she would not fall pregnant.

The 32-year-old denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

At his judge-alone rape trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday (19), defence barrister Murugan Thangaraj SC asked how the alleged stealthing could have taken place given the woman’s claims the sex had continued for 10 to 15 minutes.

“You don’t describe the sexual intercourse ever pausing, do you?” Thangaraj asked.

“I don’t, no,” the woman replied.

“The way you describe what happened, there was no opportunity for Danny to remove the condom,” the barrister pressed.

“No, I disagree with that,” the woman said.

She told Judge Sarah Huggett the cricketer could have removed the condom and thrown it on the floor while he was either choking her or slapping her buttocks.

“At no point did Mr Gunathilaka have unprotected (sex) with you,” Thangaraj said.

“That is not correct,” the woman replied.

The alleged victim, who cannot be legally identified, was also grilled over what she said occurred after the pair left the Opera Bar to have pizza in the Sydney CBD and then return by ferry to her home.

CCTV footage shows her chatting and embracing the cricketer on a side deck of the ferry and seems to show her playfully waving in front of his phone as he films Sydney Harbour.

After they go back inside the cabin to sit down, the footage shows her holding his hands for a long time before getting up to leave.

She alleged Gunathilaka had forcefully kissed her and slapped her buttocks in a manner she did not like on the ferry’s front deck, where there was no CCTV.

She admitted she could have asked the cricketer to go home alone at any point, but invited him into her house where she offered him wine and played the guitar.

While she told police she had stopped playing because Gunathilaka kept filming without her permission, footage from his phone played to the court seems to show her playfully batting the camera away.

She appears to stop playing as the song concludes and smiles at the camera.

Thangaraj suggested claimed events after this, including that Gunathilaka pushed her back onto the lounge and pushed his head forcefully into hers didn’t happen.

He also questioned the woman’s claims she led the cricketer into the bedroom and lit candles to set the mood despite the prior alleged aggressive conduct.

In the witness box, one of the alleged victim’s friends described a phone call with her on November 3 in which she was crying and shaky.

The woman spent the night at her friend’s place, saying she was too scared to be alone where the alleged rape occurred.

“She looked very fragile. She was quite faint and depleted like someone who was in shock,” the friend said, recounting how her friend appeared when she got to her home.

Another friend said the woman was sobbing so much she was initially incoherent over the phone the day after the alleged sexual assault.

“It was like he turned into an animal or a different person once we got into the bedroom,” the woman allegedly said to the friend over the phone.

“My body feels strange. I’m just in shock. I can’t believe that happened.”

The trial continues on Wednesday (20).

-AAP