MacGill to serve community sentence after conviction over cocaine deal

Stuart MacGill will serve a community sentence after being convicted over a cocaine deal, which led to his kidnapping.

MacGill supplied drugs for the deal between his regular dealer and his brother-in-law in April 2021, a jury found in March. The 54-year-old knew the cocaine was worth AU$330,000 but he was oblivious to the fact that a one-kilogramme brick had changed hands. Jurors found him not guilty of taking part in a large commercial drug supply but found him guilty of the lesser charge of supplying an indictable quantity of coke.

MacGill appeared at Downing Centre District Court on Friday, where a statement from former Test captain Steve Waugh backed his former colleague.

"I believe that Stuart has the background of knowledge accumulated in his life and playing days to appreciate all the options for the future and the hard work and steps required in this process," Waugh wrote in a letter to the court.

MacGill was sentenced to an intensive corrections order of one year and ten months. He must complete 495 hours of community service work and undergo drug testing as part of the order, in lieu of a prison term.

Judge Nicole Noman 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 lucrative cocaine deal put MacGill on the path to his violent kidnapping after his drug dealer stole two bricks of cocaine in a drug rip-off.

The kidnapping then spurred adverse media reports against him.

"The offender's colossal lapse of judgment has been causative of a very public fall from grace," the judge said.

MacGill retired from cricket in 2008 after playing 44 Tests during which he claimed 208 wickets.