ZCZC
BSP-20
CRICKET-SRI-GUNATHILAKA-SRILANKA
Police question Sri Lanka cricketer over hotel rape
COLOMBO, July 25, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lankan police have questioned a
player for the national cricket team after a Norwegian woman was allegedly
raped in a hotel room while he was present, an official said Wednesday.
Opening batsman Danushka Gunathilaka, 27, has already been suspended by
Sri Lanka Cricket on a “misconduct” charge after a close associate of his was
arrested for sexual assault in the team hotel in Colombo.
Gunathilaka was quizzed by police on Tuesday about an incident at the
weekend when his friend Sandeep Jude Selliah, 26, was accused of raping one
of two Norwegian women in their room, an officer told AFP.
“He has said he was asleep and was not aware of what had taken place
between his friend and the Norwegian woman,” said the policeman on condition
of anonymity.
Selliah, a British passport-holder of Sri Lankan origin, was arrested
shortly after the woman complained to police Sunday that he raped her the
evening before in the presence of Gunathilaka.
Selliah was remanded in custody until Thursday.
“Police are not pressing charges against Gunathilaka at the moment, but
the case record will be presented to a magistrate on Thursday,” the officer
told AFP.
Police said the Norwegian woman had left Sri Lanka after making the rape
complaint. The incident took place at the hotel where both the Sri Lankan and
the visiting South African team are staying.
Gunathilaka has been left out of the 15-man squad to play a five-match
one-day international series against South Africa starting at Dambulla on
Sunday.
The cricket board will conduct a disciplinary hearing after police
investigations are over.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1950HRS