Key detail in Stuart MacGill cocaine deal trial revealed

It’s the shadowy carpark that was central to the Stuart MacGill trial and where a key meeting between the Australian cricket legend, a drug dealer and his partner’s brother took place.

And now photos and video of the carpark on Sydney’s north shore can be revealed for the first time after the leg-spinning great faces the prospect of jail after he was this week found guilty of facilitating a drug deal.

A jury on Thursday acquitted MacGill of the more serious charge of taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug; however, he was found guilty of taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug.

During his trial, MacGill was alleged to have helped set up and was present at a meeting between his partner’s brother, Marino Sotiropoulos, and a dealer, who can only be known as Person A, underneath his Neutral Bay restaurant, Aristotle’s.

And exhibits showing the carpark and the spot where the key meeting took place have been released by the court to NewsWire following Thursday’s verdict.

Stuart MacGill was found guilty by a jury. Picture: Christian Gilles/NewsWire. Source: News Corp Australia

The carpark where MacGill was present for a cocaine deal. Picture: Supplied Source: News Corp Australia

The court was told that Person A picked up MacGill and drove him to the underground carpark, where they met Mr Sotiropoulos, in April 2021.

According to the Crown case, it was there that Person A and Mr Sotiropoulos arrived at an agreement to exchange $330,000 for one kilogram of cocaine.

During the trial, it was not contested that MacGill was present at the meeting, but in his evidence he said he was only briefly there to introduce the men before making his way upstairs to get his workday under way.

The carpark was crucial to the case. Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman told the court that Person A in his evidence described seeing Mr Sotiropoulos walk into a room inside the carpark and place a cash counter down on a bench.

As part of their attempt to attack the veracity of Person A, who was the Crown’s key witness, MacGill’s legal team challenged the dealer’s claim.

It is underneath what was formerly Aristotle’s restaurant. Picture: Supplied Source: News Corp Australia

The carpark had dozens of spaces on the day. Picture: Supplied Source: News Corp Australia

The door to the cool room, on the left, beside two bollards. Picture: Supplied. Source: News Corp Australia

When police initially searched and photographed the carpark in 2022, they missed the room.

However, upon a second visit late last year, police photographed and filmed a dry store and cool room that was consistent with Person A’s description that it was near some bollards and a stormwater drain.

A video taken by Detective Senior Constable Aron Toundjel, the officer in charge of the investigation, and tendered at the trial showed a dry store and cool room that had a bench inside.

During his evidence, MacGill’s legal team tendered a 2019 video of the ex-cricketer inside the cool room showing him walking in a shallow pool of water on the ground.

He said, when the restaurant was still operational, there were usually boxes of produce on the floor of the store room.

And in his evidence he sought to cast doubt on the suggestion that Person A and Mr Sotiropoulos would have been inside the room.

“I don’t believe that they were there,” MacGill said.

“You see me in the size of that room, I don’t see how two people would be anywhere near that room.

“I don’t think you’d be able to get in there. In order for me to get into the room on a normal day, I had to pick up the boxes and put them away. That was a daily thing.”

MacGill will now return to court on May 9 for sentencing proceedings.

Click here to read article