The jury has been discharged in the trial against cricketing great Stuart MacGill, who was fighting allegations he facilitated a $330,000 drug deal
Mr MacGill was standing trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court having pleaded not guilty to one count of taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
The Crown prosecution has alleged he played a role and facilitated the deal, involving a drug dealer known as Person A and his partner’s brother.
Mr MacGill’s defence told the court that the former cricketer had no knowledge of the drug deal and received no benefits.
The jury had heard three days of evidence.
On Friday, Judge Nicole Noman told the jury it had been discharged.
Stuart MacGill is pictured outside a Sydney court on Friday, just before the judge in his trial made a huge decision about the proceedings
She gave the jury her rationale for making the decision, but that cannot be reported due to legal reasons.
‘I have made a determination that you must be discharged, so that will conclude your involvement,’ Noman told the jury.
‘I can tell you were invested in this matter, so I apologise.’
Mr MacGill will now appear before the court again at a later date, with the matter due to return to court on Monday, with a new jury to be chosen.
It’s alleged MacGill facilitated a meeting and drug deal between a street-level dealer and his brother-in-law during which $330,000 was exchanged for a 1kg block of cocaine.
MacGill is accused of introducing a street-level drug dealer, who for legal reasons can only be known as ‘Person A’, and his partner’s brother, Marino Sotiropoulos, and was present when the pair negotiated a deal in the car park of his Neutral Bay restaurant in April 2021.
On day one of his trial on Tuesday, the court was told that Mr MacGill told police he had no knowledge of any drug deal.
His barrister Thos Hodgson told the court that Mr MacGill received ‘no benefit’ from any exchange.
At the time, Mr MacGill ran Aristotle’s at Neutral Bay with his girlfriend Maria O’Meagher.
Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman told the jury during her opening address that Mr MacGill was a user of cocaine, which he bought from Person A.
Ms Steedman told the court that it will be alleged that in April 2021, he complained to Person A about the quality of the cocaine he was being sold.
According to the Crown case, it is alleged that Mr MacGill told Person A that his partner’s brother, Mr Sotiropoulos, could supply ‘good quality cocaine’ and that he could ‘get good gear’.
Mr MacGill later told Person A that Mr Sotiropoulos could supply him with 1kg of cocaine for $330,000.
The court was told that it was alleged that Mr MacGill, Mr Sotiropoulos and Person A all met up at Mr MacGill’s restaurant at Neutral Bay.
In the underground car park, Mr MacGill introduced Mr Sotiropoulos and Person A, who had $330,000 in cash, the court was told.
There they discussed how the exchange of money for drugs would occur.
The court was told that Mr MacGill did not take part in the conversation but it was alleged that he stood one metre away.
Ms Steedman told the court that it was alleged that Mr MacGill ‘facilitated’ the meeting between Person A and Mr Sotiropoulos.
After the meeting Person A left for Ashfield where the drug exchange occurred with another man, Ms Steedman said.
She told the jury that Mr MacGill remained in the restaurant and did not have any further involvement in the deal which occurred in a car park.
The Crown alleges that Person A took part in a further drug deal, once again for 1kg of cocaine for $330,000 – but Mr MacGill is not alleged to have played any role in that deal.
On another occasion, Person A made an agreement to pay $660,000 for 2kgs of cocaine, but on this occasion he ‘decided not to pay’ and gave the suppliers a vacuum sealed brick of pieces of paper with $50 notes on the outside, Ms Steedman said.
‘After realising Person A had ripped them off, there were demands for Person A to be found and they were to be compensated,’ Ms Steedman said.
The court was told there was no dispute between the Crown prosecution and defence that on April 14, Mr MacGill was kidnapped by several males and taken to an abandoned shed at Bringelly where he was stripped and assaulted.
The group demanded to know where Person A was, but Mr MacGill told them he couldn’t contact him, the court was told.
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