Ex-Test spinner MacGill to learn fate over coke deal
Four years after he was violently kidnapped after a drug deal gone wrong, former Australian Test cricket star Stuart MacGill is set to learn his fate.
The former legspinner, who turned to cocaine after cricket, was found guilty in March of supplying an indictable quantity of the drug after a $330,000 exchange in April 2021.
A jury determined the 54-year-old knew about the deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law but was oblivious to the fact a one kilogram brick was changing hands.
He was acquitted of taking part in a large commercial drug supply.
MacGill is due to face Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday to be sentenced for his role in the lucrative cocaine deal, which led to his violent kidnapping days later.
The $330,000 deal between Person A and Marino Sotiropoulos - the brother of MacGill's then-partner - went smoothly, the jury was told.
MacGill had become a trusted customer of Person A, from whom he regularly bought cocaine in half-gram quantities for $200.
But the jury heard that trust was broken when Person A decided to rip off Sotiropoulos's associates in a second deal and disappear with cocaine worth $660,000.
Demands for the location of Person A or the return of the money were made before the former Test bowler was kidnapped later in April.
He was shoved into the back of a car by several men and taken to an abandoned building in Bringelly, in Sydney's west, where he was assaulted and threatened before being released.
Six days later, the former cricketing great went to police but denied any involvement in the drug deal.
He was arrested in 2023.
MacGill retired from cricket in 2008 after playing 44 Tests during which he claimed 208 scalps.
Four years after he was violently kidnapped after a drug deal gone wrong, former Australian Test cricket star Stuart MacGill is set to learn his fate.
The former legspinner, who turned to cocaine after cricket, was found guilty in March of supplying an indictable quantity of the drug after a $330,000 exchange in April 2021.
A jury determined the 54-year-old knew about the deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law but was oblivious to the fact a one kilogram brick was changing hands.
He was acquitted of taking part in a large commercial drug supply.
MacGill is due to face Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday to be sentenced for his role in the lucrative cocaine deal, which led to his violent kidnapping days later.
The $330,000 deal between Person A and Marino Sotiropoulos - the brother of MacGill's then-partner - went smoothly, the jury was told.
MacGill had become a trusted customer of Person A, from whom he regularly bought cocaine in half-gram quantities for $200.
But the jury heard that trust was broken when Person A decided to rip off Sotiropoulos's associates in a second deal and disappear with cocaine worth $660,000.
Demands for the location of Person A or the return of the money were made before the former Test bowler was kidnapped later in April.
He was shoved into the back of a car by several men and taken to an abandoned building in Bringelly, in Sydney's west, where he was assaulted and threatened before being released.
Six days later, the former cricketing great went to police but denied any involvement in the drug deal.
He was arrested in 2023.
MacGill retired from cricket in 2008 after playing 44 Tests during which he claimed 208 scalps.
Four years after he was violently kidnapped after a drug deal gone wrong, former Australian Test cricket star Stuart MacGill is set to learn his fate.
The former legspinner, who turned to cocaine after cricket, was found guilty in March of supplying an indictable quantity of the drug after a $330,000 exchange in April 2021.
A jury determined the 54-year-old knew about the deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law but was oblivious to the fact a one kilogram brick was changing hands.
He was acquitted of taking part in a large commercial drug supply.
MacGill is due to face Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday to be sentenced for his role in the lucrative cocaine deal, which led to his violent kidnapping days later.
The $330,000 deal between Person A and Marino Sotiropoulos - the brother of MacGill's then-partner - went smoothly, the jury was told.
MacGill had become a trusted customer of Person A, from whom he regularly bought cocaine in half-gram quantities for $200.
But the jury heard that trust was broken when Person A decided to rip off Sotiropoulos's associates in a second deal and disappear with cocaine worth $660,000.
Demands for the location of Person A or the return of the money were made before the former Test bowler was kidnapped later in April.
He was shoved into the back of a car by several men and taken to an abandoned building in Bringelly, in Sydney's west, where he was assaulted and threatened before being released.
Six days later, the former cricketing great went to police but denied any involvement in the drug deal.
He was arrested in 2023.
MacGill retired from cricket in 2008 after playing 44 Tests during which he claimed 208 scalps.
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