Shock as cricketing great Stuart MacGill avoids jail over drug deal
Cricket great Stuart MacGill has been spared jail over his role in facilitating a $330,000 drug deal underneath his Sydney North Shore restaurant, completing his 'fall from grace'.
Judge Nicole Noman sentenced MacGill, 54, to a one-year-and-10-month intensive corrections order, described his offending as a 'colossal lapse of judgment'.
MacGill was found guilty by a District Court jury of helping to set up, and being present at, a meeting between the man and a street-level drug dealer, who can only be known as Person A, underneath his Neutral Bay restaurant in April 2021.
MacGill had claimed he simply introduced the two men and played no part in a later drug deal - however that version of events was rejected by the jury during his eight-day trial earlier this year.
MacGill was in March found guilty by a jury of one count of taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug.
He was found not guilty of the more serious charge of taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
MacGill's lawyers tendered a character reference from former Test captain Steve Waugh during sentencing proceedings on Friday.
Former Australian Cricketer Stuart MacGill has avoided being sent to jail. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard.
During his trial, the crown alleged that Person A - who was MacGill's regular cocaine dealer - and the other man - came to an agreement to exchange $330,000 for 1kg of cocaine.
MacGill told the court he regularly purchased half a gram of cocaine from Person A for $200.
Judge Noman told the court on Friday that the jury must have found it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that MacGill knew the deal was for a kilo of cocaine.
She said that during his evidence, Mr A said he made references to a 'brick' - which was an accepted term within the drug industry for one kilogram of the drug.
Judge Noman also said the jury accepted it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt he had a knowledge of the quantity of the drug being exchanged by the two men.
During the trial, the court was told that in April 2021, MacGill complained to Person A about the quality of his product while telling him that the man could 'get good gear'.
Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman told the court that MacGill had acted as a go-between before setting up a meeting between the pair underneath Aristotle's restaurant, which MacGill ran with his partner Maria O'Meagher. Ms O'Meagher is not accused of any wrongdoing.
According to the crown case, MacGill stood metres away during the meeting.
It was not alleged that MacGill was present when the drug exchange later took place in a park in Ashfield.
MacGill at Aristotle's restaurant. Picture: Instagram.
MacGill during his playing career.
MacGill said he was only briefly present during the meeting to introduce them before leaving.
Under cross examination, MacGill was asked about his motivation for introducing the two men and he was asked what he thought they had in common.
'Drugs. Full stop,' MacGill replied.
As part of his sentencing, MacGill will also be required to complete 495 hours of community service.
However, the jury rejected his version of events as he was found guilty.
More to come.
Steve Zemek
Court reporter
Steve Zemek began his career in his native Queensland before moving to Sydney with Australian Associated Press in 2014. He worked as an NRL journalist for five seasons, covering the game all over Australia and in New Zealand before making a career pivot towards court reporting in 2019. He joined NCA NewsWire in mid 2020 as a Sydney-based court reporter where he has covered some of the state's biggest cases.
@stevezemek
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
25 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Flight attendants restrain wine-swilling passenger on plane's descent into Sydney
A woman who allegedly refused to stop drinking her own wine on an international flight to Sydney was physically restrained by flight attendants when she refused to sit down during the plane's descent. Police allege a 64-year old dual Italian-Australian national drank a bottle of her own wine on a flight from Noumea last Tuesday. The woman allegedly became abusive when airline crew told her that she could not drink her own alcohol. When the aircraft started its descent, the woman allegedly refused to sit down, kicked a crew member in the stomach and became disruptive when flight attendants tried to physically restrain her to a seat. Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers were called to remove the woman from the aircraft when it arrived at Sydney Airport. An AFP spokesman said paramedics conducted a health check and took her to a hospital in Randwick where she was discharged the next day. Police charged the woman with assaulting a flight attendant, disorderly conduct on an aircraft, failing to comply with safety instructions and consuming alcohol not provided by aircraft crew. AFP Acting Superintendent Dom Stephenson said police had zero tolerance for disruptive or anti-social behaviour on-board aircraft or in airports. 'All passengers and airline staff have the right to feel safe and should not have to witness intoxication, violence or bad behaviour, particularly when they're in a confined space in the air,' he said. 'People who engage in anti-social behaviour should understand this not only impacts their own travel plans but also that of hundreds of other people if they cause a flight to be delayed or cancelled. 'People who break the law will be dealt with swiftly and will be brought before the courts.'
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Mother is demanding her daughter's suicide video be played to students
A Queensland mother is demanding her daughter's suicide video be played to students at every school in Australia, furious nothing has stopped the wave of deaths since her daughter died 12 years ago. Vanessa Love said she feels rage every time she sees another headline about another child dying. She is speaking out after hearing about the death of Sydney schoolboy 13-year-old Atreyu McCann earlier this month and now, the death of Hamish Carter who was just 12 when he took his life just 50 metres from his southern Sydney home. Ms Love's daughter Courtney shared a harrowing farewell video with friends on social media before suiciding in Kiama. Ms Love allowed the vision to be part of The Sunday Telegraph 's Charlotte's Wish documentary, which called for change after the death of 12-year-old Santa Sabina student Charlotte O'Brien last year. 'What is it going to take? This is just insanity, that children keep on dying and bullies keep on being bullies,' Ms Love told this week. 'I want every single school in this country to show Courtney's video, to show the sadness in her eyes, to show her giving up to the people who told her to cut deeper and deeper. 'If schools won't play it then I want to know why. I would love to hear them justify it. Is it too distressing? Too real? Well I'll tell you something, this is my reality and it's reality for all these other mums.' Ms Love said she was gutted for Charlotte's mum Kelly and Hamish's mum Jodie and wants to team up to make a real difference. All three mums have flagged talking at schools to get through to children and all three support the Federal Government's pledge to create a national bullying policy. Newscorp's Growth Intelligence Centre (GIC) recently completed a study focusing on the Australian primary and secondary education sector that found bullying and school safety was the number one issue for parents. They want immediate and sustained focus on making schools safer and strengthening anti-bullying policies. The study found three in five Australian school children have experienced bullying at school and one in three parents say their child's school doesn't take bullying seriously. Ms Carter, who lost Hamish in 2022, said there is no time to waste. 'This is so f**king serious. We are losing these gorgeous children far too often. The time is now to stop it,' Ms Carter said. 'The world has lost too many of these special souls, and we can no longer stay silent about this. 'It is time to scream and shout as loud as we can and change the rules, change people's lives, train teachers and authorities to pass laws against this.' All three women have made submissions to the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review, being led by Dr Charlotte Keating and Dr Jo Robinson AM, examining current school procedures and best practice methods to address bullying behaviours. The experts have been working with key stakeholders across metropolitan and regional Australia, including parents, teachers, students, parent groups, state education departments and the non-government sector. Charlotte's parents have met face to face with the two experts - and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - and are optimistic change will come. 'The government's rapid review task force has a real chance to save lives and can I just say thank you to the government for taking the initiative to face this pandemic head on and not continue to put the issue of bullying in the too hard basket,' said Charlotte's still-devastated mum Kelly O'Brien. 'We educate our children about kindness, we educate our children about bullying and anti- bullying behaviours, but when they are brave enough to come forward and speak out we label them the problem,' she said. 'Let's educate children when they come forward so they know they are safe, they are believed and their problems will be solved. We don't all need to like each other but we all need to respect and be kind to each other.' Mrs O'Brien said teachers, parents and students all need help. 'We need to tackle the issue of bullying as a community. No child should ever feel so beaten down, so disbelieved and rejected when they come forward. 'There needs to be a zero policy to bullying. One-off incidents are still bullying. It doesn't need to be repeated to be classed as bullying. 'Why do we let it get to the level of repeated behaviour. 'My baby is gone. So many babies are gone. The ripple affect of every death is catastrophic to victims and their bullies alike.'
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Ten dead in school shooting in Austria
In this bulletin; Australia issues sanctions against two Israeli ministers At least ten people dead after a school shooting in Austria Erin Phillips becomes the second woman inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame Australia has issued travel bans and financial sanctions against two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. The ministers have been identified as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced the sanctions in a joint statement with the governments of Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. She says the ministers have used extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements, describing it as "appalling and dangerous". Australia's largest Aboriginal Legal Service is calling for an emergency intervention into the Northern Territory justice system. The call from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency follows the death of a 68-year-old man at the Royal Darwin Hospital over the weekend, after he was taken into protective custody by the Australian Federal Police. The man died the same day as hundreds gathered at vigils across the country to mourn the death of a 24-year-old Warlpiri man in Alice Springs after being restrained by police at a Coles supermarket. Chair of NAAJA Theresa Roe says the justice system is in crisis in the Northern Territory and needs urgent intervention. "We don't think police can investigate police. There's a lot of conflict of interest there. There's a of mistrust out there in the communities, of police. People are fearful of police. The Commonwealth government, they're responsible for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. We have a federal minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, we have the prime minister, we're calling on them to have a look at these laws, have a look at our justice system, and work with our Aboriginal leaders across the Northern Territory." A second Australian news crew has been injured while covering the protests in Los Angeles. The ABC says its correspondent Lauren Day and her crew were tear-gassed as officers used the substance to disperse crowds in the protests around a neighbourhood identified as Little Tokyo. The network also says one of its camera operators was hit in the chest with what the ABC is describing as a "less lethal" round. It says they were filming protesters in Little Tokyo when officers opened fire. Austrians are in mourning after the deaths of at least ten people in a school shooting in the southern city of Graz. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner says six of the victims killed at the school were female and three were male. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker has called the shooting a national tragedy. The European Commission's Paula Pinho is among the global leaders that have expressed their shock. "We would like to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and the entire city of Graz, and we stand together in mourning, and while we seek clarity in the wake of this horrible event in a school." Colombian senator Miguel Uribe remains in a critical condition after he was shot in the head while addressing a campaign event in Bogota at the weekend. Doctors have issued a statement saying the 39-year-old senator has barely responded to medical interventions that included brain surgery following the assassination attempt. A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the leg by a bodyguard during the attack has been charged with attempted murder. Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo says an investigation is ongoing. "We have examined approximately 1,000 videos. I don't know how many hours of recording time that is, but it is very important work and it gives us a lot of insight into this criminal event that we are examining. We looked at all the entrances and exits to the Morelia neighbourhood (where the attack took place) and the rally site." Erin Phillips has become only the second woman inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, while also completing its first father-daughter combination. The Adelaide and Port Adelaide star was a marquee name when the AFLW started in 2017. In her acceptance speech, Phillips has paid an emotional tribute to her dad Greg - as well as women's pioneer Debbie Lee, who was inducted four years ago. "To Dad, I can't imagine how hard it would have been to tell your 13-year-old daughter that she couldn't play the game she loves any more. And 27 years later, she's standing next to you in the hall of fame."
