The Woman Accompanying Dhanushka To Court Is His Lawyer!
On Wednesday, a new Sydney-based law firm was retained by Sri Lanka Cricket on behalf of multimillionaire Danushka — who, as the Police Fact Sheet also revealed, earns US$8000 or approx. Rs. 3m a month and spends US$4000 or approx. Rs. 1.5m a month – to represent him, replacing the Lankan-born lawyer. The firm issued a statement declaring: ‘Danushka Gunathilaka maintains his innocence.’The presumption of innocence will, of course, be a matter for prosecutors in an Australian Court to rebut beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of an Australian judge and jury when the case comes up for trial sometime next year. It’s best to let the matter rest in a Sydney courtroom and let justice take its course. [...] On November 8, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board announced that it will be paying for Danushka’s legal defence in Australia. They said; ‘He was with the team in an official capacity, so we felt we should pay the legal fees.’ [...] On Thursday, Sports Minister Ranasinghe publicly apologised to the Australian people for the incident but said ‘since Danushka is a Sri Lankan citizen and a player, we have a responsibility to pay for his legal defence’. Does this mean that any Lankan citizen abroad accused of a heinous crime will be afforded a top legal defence paid for by public money?