Australia’s Stuart MacGill opens up on his kidnapping nightmare

Former Australian spinner Stuart MacGill has opened up on the details of his kidnapping tragedy and how it affected his life.

The 51-year-old former leg spinner was allegedly abducted near his home in Sydney on April 14, 2021, and taken to another part of the city where he was beaten and threatened with a gun. New South Wales state police charged four men over the incident, including the brother of MacGill’s partner Maria O’Meagher, Marino Sotiropoulos.

As per MacGill, he was kidnapped by three men and driven to a farm shed in the western Sydney suburb of Bringelly.

“It was not something you’d even like to happen to your worst enemy,” Stuart MacGill told SEN WA Breakfast in an interview. 

“Later in the day, it was getting quite dark, I was bundled into a car. I didn’t want to get into the car, I said to them twice, ‘I’m not getting in the car,’ but then it became obvious they were armed, and they said, ‘We know you’re not involved, we just want to have a chat,’ then they put me in the car and I was in the car for an hour and a half.”

"I didn't know where we were, I didn't know where we were going and I was scared. From that point, they stripped me naked, beat me up, threatened me, and then just dumped me. That was over the course of maybe three hours out in the middle of nowhere in a little shed. I was scared, I was humiliated and I really didn't know what was going to happen. Then they chucked me back in the car and dropped me in Belmore, and I didn't really know where I was then either, to be honest," he added.

The Australian legend revealed that a cab driver dropped him home but things did not end there as he was told to cough up some money.

"They'd told me I had to come up with money to ease their burden, despite the fact they told me over and over again I had nothing to do with the business transaction. I wasn't even aware of it. I've felt a huge amount of pressure. I basically ran away for a month afterward. Maria chucked me in the back of her car, I was in the boot, I got out of my unit, then I had a couple of mates who very generously put me up in hotels around Sydney for two or three weeks, and then I went away with (a friend).

"We ended up driving up the coast of New South Wales and through Queensland and ended up on Fraser Island, so all up I was probably away for six weeks or so. By the time I got home most of the guys had been arrested, which was good," he said.

Four people were arrested, but the case will only be heard in court in October 2023 and MacGill is clearly disappointed with the delay regarding the verdict.

"Unfortunately, that (court date) is the biggest problem for me because I sort of feel like it's pretty much put everything on hold for me," MacGill said on the judgment date of his case.

"It is an ongoing police investigation... (but) I've made a statement to the police and it's on record, so I can discuss my statement. I never really got along well with my partner's brother. I made a (business) introduction (between a friend and Maria's brother)."

"The two of them then went away and did some business and there was a theft, it was alleged that my friend had knocked off Maria's brother, and that caused all sorts of problems for me because they considered I was responsible for that. That certainly wasn't the case, I was not involved in their business in any way, shape or form and I never would be."

"Consequently, Maria's brother came round to my place and told me it was my fault and I was responsible. It was not something you'd even like to happen to your worst enemy. Later in the day, it was getting quite dark, I was bundled into a car," explained MacGill.

As far as MacGill's international cricket career is concerned, the former leg-spinner took 208 wickets in 44 Test matches. He also scalped six wickets in three ODIs. After making his international debut in 1998, the leg spinner played his last game for Australia in 2008.