By Andrew Wu, Fergus Hunter and Laura Chung
Throughout his international cricketing career, spin bowler Stuart MacGill was always known as an enigmatic character.
In a dressing room where beers flowed freely, MacGill was a wine connoisseur. On Australia’s 1998 tour of Pakistan he got through 24 books.
Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped by four men
But how the 50-year-old came to be an alleged kidnapping victim, taken from outside his home on Sydney’s lower north shore, allegedly by four men including the brother of his girlfriend, has left those who know him stunned.
Marino Sotiropoulos, 46, the brother of MacGill’s partner Maria O’Meagher, was on Wednesday charged with a series of offences, including unlawfully detaining someone, causing actual bodily harm, participation in a criminal group, and a commercial drug supply charge in relation to 2 kilograms of cocaine.
Two brothers – Richard Schaaf, 29, who police believe is a Comanchero bikie associate, and Frederick Schaaf, 27 – were charged for the unlawful detention of MacGill and alleged participation in a criminal group from April 1 until their arrest. Son Minh Nguyen, 42, was charged over the alleged kidnapping and for directing the criminal group’s activities.
Court documents show that the timing of the group’s activities overlaps with Mr Sotiropoulos’ alleged drug offending, which police have alleged also started on April 1.
Police allege that, around 8pm on April 14, Mr Sotiropoulos confronted MacGill near the intersection of Parraween and Winnie streets in Cremorne. Two other men then allegedly appeared and MacGill was forced into a vehicle.
He was allegedly driven to a property at Bringelly, more than 60 kilometres away in the city’s south-west, where three men assaulted him and threatened him with a firearm. Police say the men were seeking money from MacGill but none was handed over.
About an hour later, MacGill was driven to the Belmore area, about 40 kilometres away, and dumped by his alleged kidnappers.
MacGill then hid for some time at a motel instead of returning to his apartment in Cremorne and reported the incident to local police six days later, a delay police have attributed to the “significant fear” the alleged perpetrators had instilled in him.
Four men were arrested over the alleged kidnapping. Credit:NSW Police
News of the alleged kidnapping was met with widespread shock in Australian cricket circles, with figures in the sport describing a man very different to many of his peers and not close to many of them.
Seen as a thinking man, his cultural tastes were also more refined than most. He hated the movie Dumb and Dumber. Reading helped him deal with the stress of being an international cricketer.
MacGill boycotted a 2004 tour of Zimbabwe in protest at then-president Robert Mugabe and, towards the end of his career, refused to take part in a KFC advertisement for Cricket Australia due to his concerns over using athletes to promote fast food.
One person well-connected to senior figures, who speaks admiringly of the former spinner, said in the hours after his ordeal became public on Wednesday there were few in the game who truly know MacGill. And those who say they do, he said, were big-noting themselves.
MacGill worked at Aristotles in Neutral Bay. Credit:Instagram
Since retiring from professional cricket in 2008, he has had a varied career with jobs across media, hospitality and sport. He lives on the lower north shore in a three-bedroom apartment owned by his father.
Recently, he has worked as general manager at Aristotle’s, a Greek restaurant in Neutral Bay. He has been in a long-term relationship with the owner, Ms O’Meagher (nee Sotiropoulos). Her brother, Mr Sotiropoulos, is listed on business records as a former owner.
Peter Sekules, another owner of Aristotle’s until recently, said he was dumbfounded by the incident and said MacGill had been a “tremendous asset” in his front of house role at the restaurant.
“It sounds like an absolutely shocking thing to happen, not just to Stuart but to anybody,” Mr Sekules said.
“He is a very sociable, wonderful person to have there. Full of inspiration, very conversational.”
Following the alleged kidnapping in April, detectives from NSW Police state crime command’s robbery and serious crime squad, launched an investigation. They arrested the four men at 6am on Wednesday and searched their homes in Sutherland, Caringbah, Brighton-Le-Sands and Banksia.
Detective acting Superintendent Anthony Holton, robbery and serious crime squad commander, said MacGill was being treated as “purely a victim of kidnapping” and he did not owe the alleged perpetrators any money.
“He is not involved in any other backstory that leads to him having a personal debt,” Mr Holton said.
Speaking with reporters, Superintendent Holton said the accused men were members of a criminal gang. He agreed with the suggestion MacGill had been betrayed by his partner’s brother.
Superintendent Holton said the trauma of the event was an explanation for MacGill’s delay in approaching police.
“To be standing on a street in Cremorne, to be dragged into a car, driven to a remote location, physically assaulted, threatened with a firearm, held for a period of time and then dumped, I think you’d be pretty worried about your own personal safety and the safety of your family and your friends,” he said.
Police said MacGill was still feeling shaken following the incident, and they would be looking out for him.
The four accused men did not apply for bail during brief appearances at Sutherland Local Court on Wednesday and it was formally refused.
Mr Sotiropoulos has engaged prominent criminal defence lawyer Abbas Soukie, who said his client would be fighting the charges and applying for bail next week.
MacGill played 44 Tests for Australia and claimed 208 wickets between 1998 and 2008.
Since retirement, MacGill has held roles in the media, mentored spinners around the world, including England leggie Mason Crane, and rubbed shoulders with the Sydney establishment as an SCG Trustee - a role he held from 2011-19.
In 2017, he reached a confidential settlement over his $2.6 million injury claim against Cricket Australia. He had claimed CA neglected or failed to pay him injury payments over a two-year period from May 2008 when he was unable to play Test cricket because of injury.
MacGill was convicted for drink-driving in 2019 after being caught more than two times over the legal limit.
He was hit with an apprehended violence order in 2017 that prevented him from contacting ex-girlfriend Julie Singleton.
The sombre tone of some of MacGill’s late-night tweeting in recent times has also caught the eye of some in the cricketing world. His Twitter account was recently deactivated.
Todd Greenberg, the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief, has reached out to MacGill.
“My primary message to Stuart is we want to make sure he’s okay,” Greenberg said.
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Fergus Hunter is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Laura is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.