sydney
CNN
—
Sri Lankan international cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged with rape after being arrested at his team’s hotel on Saturday night, Australian police say.
At a press conference in Sydney on Sunday, NSW Police Commander Jayne Doherty said Gunathilaka, 31, had been charged with four counts of ‘sex without consent’ against a 29-year-old woman from the city he had met online.
Police allege Gunathilaka “was assaulted [the woman] a number of times by performing sexual acts on her,” Doherty said.
The cricketer has been refused bail and will appear in court in Sydney on Monday, she added.
The arrest came just hours after Sri Lanka lost a T20 World Cup game to England.
Gunathilaka, who was previously ruled out of the tournament due to injury, made his international debut in 2015. Since then, the left-handed batsman has played eight Test matches, 47 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 46 T20I matches. for his country.
