Maria O‘Meagher says Stuart MacGill is battling trauma of alleged kidnapping

Stuart MacGill’s partner has revealed how the former cricketer is coping since his alleged kidnap ordeal eight months ago.

The partner of Stuart MacGill has told how the former Test cricketer is still on edge and battling the “traumatic” effects of his alleged kidnap ordeal eight months on.

Standing steadfastly by him, mother-of-two Maria O‘Meagher said she and the retired spin bowling legend, 50, remain together and are working to “put this awful chapter behind us and to move on with our lives.”

“He’s still recovering from the effects of the ordeal, Stuart is an innocent victim of a traumatic experience that most of us will never be able to comprehend,” said Ms O’Meagher, who has sold her restaurant Aristotle’s in Neutral Bay and is now working in the architectural industry.

Stuart McGill seen outside his Cremorne unit this week. Picture: John Grainger

Stuart McGill is a former Australian Test cricketer. Picture: John Grainger

“I would like to hope he will resume a normal life, he’s done nothing wrong,” Ms O’Meagher said.

“It is hard enough for professional sportsmen, particularly one who has reached the heights of his professional career by successfully representing his country, to pursue a new career at this stage of his life.

“I love him, he’s a beautiful man who deserves to be treated better.”

Maria O'Meagher sold her Aristotle's Greek restaurant at Neutral Bay after the alleged kidnap which she said has effected her and MacGill. Picture Facebook

MacGill claims he was abducted at gunpoint off a Cremorne Street.

According to court documents, police allege he was targeted by drug dealers, and bundled into the back of a car and taken on an hour-long terror ride 60 kms away to a disused cottage at Bringelly, in Sydney’s south west on April 14.

There, according to police, he was stripped naked and physically and mentally intimated and ordered to hand over $150,000 — allegedly the proceeds of a cocaine deal that had soured, which did not involve Mr MacGill.

Police maintain he is a victim and has not been charged. His only involvement was to allegedly introduce Ms O’Meagher’s brother Marino Sotiropoulos to an associate of his, known as “Sonny”.

Police allege Sotiropoulos was demanding Mr MacGill help with compensation because he made the introduction to Sonny.

Mr MacGill later told police one of the captors allegedly threatened him with a gun and one showed him bolt cutters and forced him to sit on the concrete floor, before one telling him: “They want me to take your fingers,” MacGill said in his police statement.

He eventually passed out and was later released in Belmore later that night where he caught a taxi home.

Maria O'Meagher with Stuart MacGill.

According to court documents, the father of two teenagers waited five days hiding in hotels before contacting police, later saying he was afraid of repercussions on his family.

In the days that followed the astonishing incident, according to court documents an undercover police officer allegedly met in the city with Sotiropoulos and one of those charged in relation to the kidnapping, Son Minh Nguyen, where he was handed Mr MacGill’s phone and heard that the cricketer would need to pay $150,000 unless Sonny was located.

Sonny was a known diner at Ms O’Meagher’s Aristotle’s restaurant, where Mr MacGill had been working as general manager.

Greg Goold, lawyer for Nguyen, 42, the alleged orchestrator of the kidnapping charged with unlawfully detaining someone after the fact and directing the activities of a criminal group, questioned in court Mr MacGill’s evidence, highlighting inconsistencies in evidence and a message allegedly texted to the undercover operative by Sotiropoulos.

Maria O'Meagher and cricketer Stuart MacGill have sold Aristotle's Greek restaurant at Neutral Bay.

In the message, Sotiropoulos allegedly said Mr MacGill stood to benefit from the drug deal because he made the introduction.

Mr Goold said there were questions as to whether Mr MacGill was kidnapped at all.

“The case will turn on whether or not Mr MacGill got into that car willingly or against his will,” Mr Goold said in court.

Lawyer for Nguyen told a court that he was oblivious of the alleged kidnapping plot.

Sotiropoulos, the 47-year-old brother of MacGill’s partner, has been charged with detaining in company, participating in a criminal group and supplying prohibited drugs. He denies being involved in the abduction.

The matter was last before the courts on September 1 when Sotiropoulos failed in his bid to be freed after his lawyer argued that the matter wasn’t likely to go to trial until 2023.

Sotiropoulos and Nguyen are due back before Central Local Court on December 9.