Stuart MacGill: I’ve done nothing wrong, amid alleged kidnapping ordeal

Former Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill has come out swinging at people speculating about his alleged abduction.

Former international cricket star Stuart MacGill. Picture: Supplied

Two months after an alleged harrowing abduction from a Sydney street, former Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill has hit out at people sceptical over his account in a wary and at times combative interview.

MacGill is still shaken from the ordeal that has destroyed relationships with family and friends, forced the closure of his restaurant and left him unable to work indefinitely, and says the reason people don’t fully know what’s going on is because neither does he.

Backed by police, who have repeatedly declared he is purely a victim, he referred back to his cricketing career as he defied those who refused to believe he was abducted simply because he had unwittingly introduced two men who were later involved in a drug dispute.

“If people choose to think something contrary to what’s being presented by both myself and the police, then that’s up to them,” he said.

“I have no interest in talking to people like that anyway. And I never have to be honest. Never read the papers. Never listened to somebody rubbishing me from the sidelines. And I can see no reason to change that now.”

MacGill and his partner Maria O'Meagher, the co-owners of Aristotle's Greek restaurant at Neutral Bay. Picture Instagram

On Wednesday, April 14, MacGill was allegedly forced into a car at gunpoint at a street near his Cremorne home and driven to a property at Bringelly, more than 60km away in Sydney’s south west.

He was allegedly assaulted and threatened by a group of men, who demanded he pay up to $150,000.

One of the men allegedly showed him a set of bolt cutters and said “they want me to take your fingers”, before he was eventually taken to Belmore and released, going into hiding before contacting police five days later.

Police have charged four men over the abduction, including his partner Maria O’Meagher’s brother Marino Sotiropoulos.

It’s alleged MacGill introduced Mr Sotiropoulos to a man known as Sonny, an accused street-level drug dealer who was a regular at his Greek restaurant Aristotle’s, in Neutral Bay.

Police have released CCTV of two man wanted for questioning over the kidnapping of former Test spin great Stuart MacGill. Picture: NSW Police

When there was a dispute over a $660,000 cocaine deal, Sonny could not be found and Mr Sotiropoulos tried to extract money from MacGill because of his unwitting introductory role, police allege.

On Monday, NSW detectives again said there was nothing to suggest MacGill had done anything other than introduce the men.

MacGill says he has “thought about it probably 20 hours a day ever since”.

“I found myself in a position I couldn’t do much about,” he told A Current Affair.

“I couldn’t have done anything different I don’t think. I’ve thought maybe I could have done something different, but then I wouldn’t probably be sitting here talking to you.”

He added: “We consider ourselves to be the innocent parties in this one. Part of hospitality is making sure the room works. We introduce people to other people all the time.

“To be honest, I know that I’ve done nothing wrong. Maria’s done nothing wrong.”

The mysterious Sonny, also known as Zac, has been described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, chubby, with a full-face beard, brown eyes and in his mid 30s, and is yet to be found by police.

Detectives are also searching for two men who went into a Bunnings and purchased items suspected to be connected to the abduction.

Police have released CCTV of two man wanted for questioning over the kidnapping of former Test spin great Stuart MacGill. Picture: NSW Police

MacGill told police in a nine-page statement that he was scared his teenage children would be hurt if he reported what happened, and in his interview he expanded on the delay.

“I was in pain. And also just the way it fell. It fell over the weekend,” he said.

“So, I couldn’t get any advice from either police or lawyers until that time. And as you’re free to read in the statement that’s been quite readily thrown about, I wasn’t thinking particularly clearly in those first couple of days.”

The events had been particularly tough on his partner, Ms O’Meagher, given the alleged involvement of her brother.

MacGill and O’Meagher ran Aristotle’s together and have been forced to close it under the stress of the incident.

“For me it was everything. For Maria, it was her baby. She created it, all the recipes were hers. The feel, the look, everything was hers. But we don’t have that now.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to work again. Certainly not until this is all done with.

“I’d say that’s probably the first thing that’s got me. Then we move onto personal relationships. First of all, we’ve been let down by friends. significantly.

“We’ve lost friends. We’ve lost family, particularly Maria, who you must feel very, very sorry for.

“They’ve even found impacts on their lives as a consequence of helping me out directly. And I think the weight of that on my shoulders and Maria’s shoulders, it can’t be underestimated.

“It’s hurt my family, and I know that a lot of people don’t really know what’s going on. But I can put both of us in the same boat too. We don’t know what’s going on.”

Asked if he had been totally truthful all along, he said: “I’m not even gonna bother answering that. And I’m disappointed that you’d ask the question.”

And there was this warning too for those speculating.

“I’ll be very, very clear about this, OK. In Australia we operate under a set of laws. The police have said repeatedly what they believe the situation is. And I’d suggest that you pay very, very careful attention to that.”