New evidence filed in Stuart MacGill kidnap case
The brother of Stuart MacGill’s girlfriend will make a bid for bail after being charged over the former Test cricketer’s alleged kidnapping.
The brother of former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill’s girlfriend will apply for bail next week after being charged over the alleged kidnapping of the retired spin bowler.
Marino Sotiropoulos, 46, had been due to make a bid for release at Sutherland Local Court on Wednesday after spending a week behind bars but his lawyer, Arjun Chhabra, was instructed to withdraw the application at the last minute after being handed fresh documents by a police prosecutor.
Among the files is a nine-page statement by MacGill, 50, whom police allege was snatched from a street near his home on Sydney’s north shore last month.
Police will allege in court that the former cricketer was driven 60km to a property in Bringelly in the city’s far southwest where he was assaulted, threatened with a gun and ordered to hand over a large sum of money.
Mr Sotiropoulos, the brother of MacGill’s partner Maria O’Meagher, was one of four men arrested on May 5 by strike force detectives investigating the incident.
Police allege he confronted MacGill at the corner of Parraween and Winnie streets in Cremorne, a short walk from his house, about 8pm on April 14.
Two other men arrived and allegedly bundled MacGill into a car before driving him to an isolated home at Bringelly.
Police alleged in court the men demanded cash from MacGill, who was bashed and threatened with a gun during the hour he was held at the property. MacGill refused and was later driven away and dumped on a street at Belmore, police will allege.
MacGill reported the incident to police six days later on April 20.
He is not accused of any wrongdoing and police have described him as “purely a victim”.
Mr Sotiropoulos was arrested at Brighton Le Sands following a covert police operation lasting two weeks.
He faces charges of take/detain company with intent to get advantage occasioning actual bodily harm, participating in a criminal group and supply prohibited drug (large commercial quantity).
He is set to apply for bail when he appears before Manly Local Court on May 19.
NCA NEWSWIRE
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