The legal team of former Aussie Test cricketer Stuart MacGill has argued it made no sense for a jury to have found him guilty of facilitating a drug deal involving 250 grams or less of cocaine when the decorated leg-spinner knew there was $330,000 involved.
On Friday, MacGill, 55, sat in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney as he seeks to have his conviction and sentence for drug supply overturned.
MacGill was last year found guilty by a jury of helping to set up a drug deal between a man and a drug dealer underneath his Neutral Bay restaurant in April 2021.
Following a District Court trial, a jury acquitted MacGill – who took 208 wickets in his Test career – of taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
That charge relates to transactions between 250g and 1kg.
He was found guilty of the lesser charge of taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug – a charge that relates to quantities of 250g or less.
The legal team of former Aussie Test cricketer Stuart MacGill has argued it made no sense for a jury to have found him guilty of facilitating a drug deal involving 250 grams or less of cocaine when he knew there was $330,000 involved
On Friday, MacGill, 55, sat in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney as he seeks to have his conviction and sentence for drug supply overturned (pictured, playing against England at the MCG in 2002)
MacGill avoided a jail term and was ordered by Judge Nicole Norman to serve a one year and 10-month intensive corrections order.
He must also perform 495 hours of community service.
The court was told during the trial that Person A was MacGill’s drug dealer, from whom he regularly purchased half a gram of cocaine for $200.
During the trial, the Crown alleged Person A and the man previously came to an agreement to exchange $330,000 for 1kg of cocaine.
The court was told MacGill had set up a meeting between the pair underneath Aristotle’s restaurant, which the retired cricketer ran with his partner Maria O’Meagher, who is not accused of any wrongdoing.
MacGill said in his evidence he immediately left the meeting after introducing Person A to the man – and then denied having a role with any drug deal.
But according to the Crown case, MacGill acted as an intermediary between the two men as they negotiated the drug deal.
The court was told they discussed what form the drug would come in – either a powder or brick – as well as the $330,000 price.
MacGill was last year found guilty by a jury of helping to set up a drug deal between a man and a drug dealer underneath his Neutral Bay restaurant in April 2021
MacGill made his Test debut in 1998 against South Africa, and at his peak, kept Shane Warne out of Australia’s XI, such was the form of the leg-spinner (the cricketers are pictured together in 2005)
On Friday, MacGill’s barrister, Dominic Toomey SC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal the jury could not have found that the ex-Test cricketer believed the drug deal involved less than 250g of cocaine.
According to MacGill’s evidence, Person A sold cocaine for $200 for half a gram, which would equate to $400 a gram.
And if Person A was buying 250g of cocaine from the man for $330,000, that would cost $1320 per gram.
Toomey argued that would mean he would be buying the cocaine for 3.3 times the price he was selling for.
‘As a matter of logic, if the jury were to accept there had been a conversation between Mr MacGill and Person A that the amount to be paid –- for the amount being supplied – was $330,000, it could not have been an amount under 250g,’ Toomey told the court.
Toomey added it ‘cannot sit logically’ that MacGill believed the deal was for $330,000 – yet involved an amount of cocaine less than 250g.
Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Nicholson argued on Friday it was ‘well open’ for the jury to make a finding that MacGill took part in a drug deal for a ‘non-specific amount’.
She said Person A’s evidence, where he only spoke of the deal involving a ‘brick’, must have been accepted by the jury.
MacGill played 44 Tests for Australia following his 1998 debut and took 208 wickets in a decorated career
Judge Nicole Norman previously found MacGill played an indispensable role setting up the cocaine deal.
‘His role was essential to bring the parties together and for the transaction to occur,’ she said.
‘The offender’s colossal lapse of judgment has been causative of a very public fall from grace.’
Justices Anthony Payne, Belinda Rigg, Helen Roberts will hand down their decision on MacGill’s appeal at a later date.
MacGill made his Test debut in 1998 against South Africa, and at his peak, kept Shane Warne out of Australia’s XI, such was the form of the enigmatic leg-spinner.
Earlier this year, MacGill generated further headlines after podcast host Andrew ‘Menners’ Menczel recalled the appalling behaviour of South African supporters in 2018 towards former Australian opener David Warner and his wife Candice.
MacGill soon snapped, before delivering a spray for the ages, where he labelled Menczel a ‘moron’ and a ‘muppet.’
