In a recent court hearing, an Australian judge has criticized the actions of the police who prosecuted Sri Lankan cricket star Danushka Gunathilaka, ultimately acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman at her Sydney home. The judge deemed the police's actions as "unreasonable."

Gunathilaka, a 32-year-old top-order T20 batter, spent approximately 10 months on bail in Australia before being acquitted following a judge-alone trial in September. The charges stemmed from an incident where police alleged Gunathilaka engaged in "stealthing," the act of removing a condom without consent, during a sexual encounter with a woman he had met on the dating app Tinder.

During the recent costs hearing, Judge Sarah Huggett expressed "significant concerns" about the prosecution's case, stating that if the prosecution had possessed all the relevant facts before initiating proceedings, it would not have been reasonable to pursue the case.

The woman involved had reported the incident to Bondi police, leading to Gunathilaka's arrest in November 2022. The court heard that the woman had initially informed the cricketer that she would only agree to sex if he wore a condom, to which he reluctantly agreed.

Judge Huggett highlighted the discrepancies in the woman's statements, noting that critical evidence was omitted during her initial police interview and only provided in a later statement, six months after the incident. The prosecution proceeded to trial on a single charge of stealthing, with charges related to the alleged roughness of the encounter dropped.

"The deficiencies in the prosecution case of stealthing were apparent," said Justice Huggett. "There were so many inherent issues and difficulties with the prosecution case that should have been obvious to the prosecution at the outset."

Justice Huggett has ordered the issuance of a certificate to Gunathilaka for the recovery of costs. The cricketer has since returned home. The police had argued that they could not have predicted the trial's factual findings when deciding to prosecute Gunathilaka.