Former Australian Test cricket star Stuart MacGill, who has had a post-cricket life marred by regular cocaine use, has been acquitted of taking part in a large commercial drug supply that was linked to his violent kidnapping. However, a Sydney district court jury found MacGill guilty of a lesser charge of drug supply. The jury concluded that MacGill was aware of the cocaine deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law but was unaware that a one-kilogram brick was being exchanged. The illicit exchange of $330,000 for the cocaine took place between a dealer known as Person A and Marino Sotiropoulos, the brother of MacGill’s partner. The jury heard that MacGill bought cocaine from Person A for years and was allowed to accumulate $1,000 in drug debts. An initial deal went smoothly, but Person A later decided to rip off Sotiropoulos’s associates, fleeing with cocaine worth $660,000. This led to MacGill’s kidnapping in April. The former Test bowler was bundled into the back of a car by several males and taken to an abandoned shed, where he was assaulted, threatened, and released. Six days later, MacGill went to the police and denied involvement in the drug supply, although he admitted introducing Person A to Sotiropoulos. While MacGill denied knowing about the one-kilogram deal, the prosecution argued that the deal could not have occurred without his involvement. MacGill’s lawyer, 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. The court also dismissed MacGill’s prior sharing of his dealer’s number with other users as evidence of his involvement in a larger deal. MacGill, who retired in 2008 with 208 Test scalps at an average of 29.02, remains on bail until a sentence hearing on May 9 and has indicated that he will seek legal costs.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/13/stuart-macgill-former-australia-cricket-player-court-drugs-case-ntwnfb