Former Australian Test cricket star Stuart MacGill might still be jailed, but he has been spared a potential life sentence over his role in a $330,000 cocaine deal that led to his violent kidnapping.
The former legspinner, whose post-cricket life has been marred by regular cocaine use, was acquitted on Thursday of taking part in a large commercial drug supply that began under his restaurant in April 2021.
But the Sydney district court jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict to a lesser charge of drug supply.
They found MacGill knew the cocaine deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law was taking place but was oblivious a one-kilogram brick was changing hands.
MacGill, 54, showed little emotion as the verdicts were read.
The man whose 44-Test career came in the shadow of cricketing great Shane Warne remained tight-lipped as he left court surrounded by cameras and reporters.
The jury heard the illicit exchange of $330,000 for a kilogram of cocaine was struck between a dealer known as Person A and Marino Sotiropoulos, the brother of MacGill’s partner.
The jury heard the ex-cricketer was a regular user of cocaine and bought the drug from Person A for years, usually in half-gram quantities for $200.
He was a trusted buyer, allowed to rack up $1,000 in drug debts and receiving expensive bottles of alcohol for his patronage, the jury heard.
While an initial deal went off without a hitch, Person A decided to rip Sotiropoulos’s associates off days later, fleeing with cocaine worth $660,000, crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman told the jury.
The dealer exchanged the drugs for a vacuum-sealed bag of A4 paper concealed by $50 notes, before turning off his phone and deleting the encrypted app he was using.
Threats started to come in demanding the location of Person A or the return of the money, leading to MacGill’s kidnapping later in April.
The former Test bowler was bundled into the back of a car by several males and taken to an abandoned shed at Bringelly, in Sydney’s west, where he was assaulted, threatened and released, the jury heard.
Six days later he went to police and denied involvement in the drug supply, Ms Steedman said, although he admitted introducing Person A to Sotiropoulos.
While the cricketer denied knowing the one-kilogram deal was to take place, Ms Steedman argued the deal could not have occurred without the prior involvement of MacGill, who she attacked as not an impressive witness.
MacGill had allegedly complained about the quality of the cocaine Person A was selling him and said his brother-in-law could get him “good gear” in a large quantity.
after newsletter promotion
She also pointed to the dealer’s assertions MacGill was in the car park under the Sydney restaurant until the dealer and Sotiropoulos drove off in one car.
The exchange took place in the car as it drove across town.
MacGill was arrested in 2023.
Defence barrister Thos Hodgson attacked Person A as prone to dishonesty and motivated to get a lower sentence for his own drug supply conviction by implicating MacGill.
MacGill’s prior sharing of his dealer’s number with other users – which the Crown claimed showed a tendency to get involved in a larger deal – was also dismissed.
“It would not be unusual for people who consume cocaine together … to say ‘where do you get your cocaine?’” Mr Hodgson said in his closing address.
MacGill, who retired in 2008 after claiming 208 Test scalps at an average of 29.02, remains on bail until a sentence hearing on May 9.
He has flagged he will seek legal costs.
