Cricket star Stuart MacGill was allegedly ordered to pay $150,000 or his toes would be cut off with a pair of boltcutters during a kidnapping ordeal where he was threatened at gunpoint.
He was confronted by two men in Cremorne, on Sydney’s north shore after 8pm on April 14, forced into a Honda with a gun waved in his face.
MacGill was driven 75km away to deserted shack at Bringelly, in southwest Sydney, where he was allegedly beaten and threatened.
Cricket star Stuart MacGill was allegedly ordered to pay $150,000 or his toes would be cut off with a pair of boltcutters during a kidnapping ordeal involving the brother of his girlfriend Maria O’Meagher (pictured together)
NSW Police allege the retired leg-spinner, 50, was bundled into a car by Richard Schaaf, 29, (left) and his brother Frederick Schaaf, 27, on the streets of Sydney’s lower north shore, before enduring a terrifying hour-long kidnapping ordeal
His captors allegedly told the former Test spinner they would cut off his toes if he didn’t hand over the cash, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Comanchero bikie associate Richard Schaaf, 29, Frederick Schaaf, 27, Son Minh Nguyen, 42, and Marino Sotiropoulos, 46, were arrested on Wednesday morning.
Police will allege the kidnapping was related to a botched cocaine deal MacGill had no direct involvement with.
Sotiropoulos is the brother of MacGill’s girlfriend Maria O’Meagher, with whom the former cricketer runs Aristotle’s restaurant in Neutral Bay.
The Schaaf brothers were charged with participating in a criminal group and kidnapping with assault causing actual bodily harm.
Sotiropoulos was charged with kidnapping and causing actual bodily harm, participating in a criminal group and supplying 2kg of cocaine.
Nguyen was charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group and being an accessory after the fact to the alleged kidnapping and assault.
Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped in Cremorne, driven to Bringelly and then released in Belmore
Stuart MacGill is the general manager of the Greek restaurant Aristotle in Neutral Bay. His girlfriend, Maria O’Meagher, is the owner. It is not suggested she had any role in the alleged kidnapping
Stuart MacGill and girlfriend Maria O’Meagher – whose brother is alleged to have violently abducted MacGill – behind the bar at the restaurant they run together for years
Robbery and serious crime squad commander Anthony Holton said on Wednesday the alleged kidnappers’ motive was ‘to obtain as much money as they could’ but none had been paid.
Police will allege that MacGill introduced Sotiropoulos to a business associate, believed to be known as ‘Sonny’ in early April with to whom Sotiropoulos sold 2kg of cocaine for $660,000.
‘Sonny’ allegedly failed to pay Sotiropoulos, who became enraged and turned to MacGill for redress – leading to the kidnapping.
Police allege Sotiropoulos confronted MacGill telling him, ‘Your mate stole $660’.
The ex-test cricket star replied: ‘I don’t give a f**k, it’s got nothing to do with me. F**k off.’
Two other men then allegedly arrived at the scene and the 50-year-old leg-spinner was forced into a car where he was driven to a home in western Sydney and threatened at gun point
Four men have been arrested after Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint
The decrepit shack where MacGill was allegedly held at gunpoint
Shocking images inside the rundown property on Sydney’s outskirts where MacGill was allegedly held captive at gunpoint and beaten up by three men have emerged.
Rooms inside the barren shack were covered in filth with grime all over the walls and floor.
The exterior of the home was covered in cobwebs while an outdoor toilet had discarded possessions strewn on the floor.
Neighbours told Seven News the tenant who lived there for eight years moved out on Monday and were shocked to see police there on Wednesday.
‘It was scary, seeing police in overalls with cameras,’ one man said.
MacGill has not been seen since he was picked up from his Cremorne home by police on Wednesday and taken to a nearby station to give more information about his ordeal.
Stuart MacGill was allegedly held at gunpoint at this Bringelly home (pictured) on Sydney’s south-western outskirts on April 14
Walls and floors inside the vacant property (pictured) were covered in filth and grime
After being taken to Bringelly, MacGill was held there for an hour while Sotiropoulos pushed MacGill to give up Sonny’s whereabouts.
MacGill, 50, was then driven 40km to Belmore and released by his kidnappers.
He then spent several days in hiding in a motel and only reported the kidnapping at Chatswood police station six days after it happened.
Police put the delay in reporting the kidnapping down to MacGill’s fears for his safety.
‘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…’ Superintendent Holton said.
‘I think you’d be pretty worried about your own personal safety and the safety of your family and your friends.’
Police allege the former Australian Test cricketer was confronted by a 46-year-old man near the intersection of Parraween and Winne Streets in Cremorne on Wednesday April 14
Police have made it clear they do not believe MacGill was involved in the deal and committed no crime, and there is no suggestion to the contrary.
‘I can say his kidnapping is not involved in any other backstory that leads to him having a personal debt to other people that he had to pay back,’ Detective Superintendent Holton said.
‘He’s purely being treated as a victim of this kidnapping.’
MacGill, wearing jeans and a hoodie, was led out of his luxury apartment by plain clothes officers and taken to a waiting police car on Wednesday.
He crouched in the back of the unmarked SUV as it drove off towards a nearby police station where he was understood to have given a statement about the April 14 incident.
The four men charged did not apply for bail when they appeared at Sutherland Local Court.