A Sydney District Court jury on Thursday acquitted Stuart MacGill, a former Australian cricketer, of complicity in a large commercial drug transaction in April 2021 but found him guilty on a lesser charge of supplying a drug.
The case involved a reported transaction in which MacGill’s usual source of drugs and his brother-in-law, Marino Sotiropoulos, brokered the sale of a kilogram of cocaine for $330,000. MacGill arranged the meeting at his restaurant but claimed not to know about the transaction. Prosecutors, however, maintained that his advance knowledge was necessary for the transaction to take place.
The jury eventually dismissed suggestions that MacGill was involved in the one-kilogram drug deal but still found him guilty of a lesser offence of being involved in supplying drugs. His sentencing has been put back eight weeks.
MacGill, who featured in 44 Test matches for Australia and took 208 wickets, was known for his balls of spin that turned sharply. Even though he had plenty of talent, he had his chances cramped by the era when spin great Shane Warne dominated the scene.
