Exclusive: Aussie cricket legend speaks out for first time over terrifying alleged kidnap ordeal
Aussie cricketing legend Stuart MacGill is on edge – still shaken and reeling after his nightmare alleged kidnap ordeal.
“I’ve thought about it probably 20 hours a day ever since,” he told A Current Affair in an exclusive interview.
“I’ve thought maybe I could have done something different, but then I wouldn’t probably be sitting here talking to you.”
MacGill was allegedly abducted off a Cremorne Street on April 14, the target of alleged drug dealers.
“I found myself in a position I couldn’t do much about,” he said.
“I was in situation that’s foreign to me and I was physically and mentally intimidated.
“I couldn’t have done anything differently, I don’t think.”
I asked him if he feared for his life that night.
“I just didn’t really know don’t what was going to happen, that’s all,” he said.
“I sort of talk to myself all the… I was just running different scenarios through in my head.
“I don’t really know whether or not I’m prepared to talk about that sort of thing at the moment, to be honest.”
MacGill only agreed to break his silence to A Current Affair to assist strike force detectives who are trying to track down all those allegedly involved in his kidnapping and extortion.
Four men have already been arrested and charged over the kidnapping – including Marino Sotiropoulos, the brother of MacGill’s partner Maria O’Meagher.
A Current Affair has obtained exclusive CCTV footage of two more potential suspects.
“The CCTV captures them going into a Bunnings a couple of hours before the incident occurred,” Detective Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis, from the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, told me.
“They bought some items that we believe is associated with the incident, so we are very keen on identifying and speaking with those two males.”
Police have maintained from day one that MacGill is an innocent victim.
“What we allege he’s gone through is just horrific circumstances,” Detective Superintendent Koutsoufis said.
“I feel for him and his family now that’s all dragged out into the media as well, being a public figure that he is.”
A Current Affair has also exclusively obtained a computer-generated image of a mystery man called Sonny – a street level drug dealer who’s alleged to be at the heart of the case.
“‘Sonny’, also known as Zak… we’re still continuing our inquiries, attempting to identify and confirm his identification and locate him,” Detective Superintendent Koutsoufis said.
“He is described as a Middle Eastern male, mid-thirties, chubby appearance, full face beard, brown eyes.”
MacGill maintains all he did was introduce Sonny to Marino and that he had nothing to do with any alleged drug transaction.
“There is nothing to suggest he’s connected in any way other than introducing the two people involved in the matter,” Detective Superintendent Koutsoufis confirmed.
“If people choose to think something contrary to what’s presented by both myself and the police, then that’s up to them,” MacGill said.
“I have no interest in talking to people like that anyway and I never have, to be honest.
“Never read the papers, never listen to somebody rubbishing me from the sidelines and I can see no reason to change that now.”
The stress of his ordeal is clear during our interview.
“I’ll say it again. Simon, Simon, Simon… I’ll be very, very clear about this, ok,” he said.
“In Australia we operate under laws, 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.”
“Have you been totally truthful all the way along?” I asked him.
“I’m not even going to bother answering that and I’m, I’m disappointed that you’d ask the question,” he responded.
In his nine-page police statement MacGill told detectives the two men had been patrons at the Neutral Bay restaurant he and his partner Maria ran, Aristotles.
“We consider ourselves to be, you know, the innocent parties in this one. Part of hospitality is making sure the room works. We introduce people to other people all the time,” MacGill said.
“To be honest, I mean I know that I’ve done nothing wrong, Maria’s done nothing wrong.”
Police allege Sotiropoulos was seeking to supply Sonny, a suspected street dealer, with cocaine and a dispute developed over two kilograms of the drug.
When Sonny vanished others allegedly involved in the deal blamed MacGill demanding a meeting – and demanding he pay up between $90,000 and $150,000.
When MacGill explained he had nothing to do with the deal, and no money, he was allegedly dragged into a car and taken on an hour-long terror ride, ending in the middle of the night at Bringelly, in Sydney’s south western suburbs, 60 kilometres from Cremorne.
He was allegedly held captive in a rundown, vacant old cottage, allegedly stripped naked, threatened with a handgun and repeatedly bashed until he eventually blacked out.
MacGill told police his captors showed him some bolt cutters and threatened to cut off his fingers.
Eventually he was released at Belmore and caught a taxi home. The father of two teenagers waited five days before going to police.
Battered and bruised he also didn’t want to go to hospital and moved around Sydney, staying at different hotels because he feared for his safety.
I asked him why he waited several days before he reported the incident to police.
“I was in pain, and also just the way it fell, it fell over the weekend, so couldn’t get any advice from either the police or lawyers until that time and, as you’re free to read in the statement that’s been quite readily thrown about,” he said.
“I wasn’t thinking particularly clearly in those first couple of days.”
The former spin bowler is now trying to piece his life back together after he and Maria had to close down Aristotles.
“For me it was everything. 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,” he said.
“I’d say that’s probably the first thing that’s got me, then we move onto personal relationships – first of all, you know, we’ve been let down by friends… significantly.”
The former cricketer said he’s now concerned for Maria. “We’ve lost friends, we’ve lost family, particularly Maria, who, you know, you must feel very, very sorry for,” he said. He also feels for loyal friends who have stood by him. “They’ve even found impacts on their lives as a consequence of helping me out directly,” he said.
“I think the weight of that on my shoulders and Maria’s shoulders, you know, it can’t be, it can’t be underestimated.”
MacGill has no idea if, or when, life will get back to normal. “It’s hurt my family and I know that a lot of people don’t really know what’s going on,” he told me.
“But I can put both of us in the same boat there too. We don’t know what’s going on.”
