Stuart MacGill loses bid to have drug deal sentence thrown out

Cricket legend Stuart MacGill has failed to have his sentence and conviction over a drug deal thrown out.

The former Test cricketer fought to have his conviction and sentence for drug supply overturned in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney.

The spin great was last year found guilty by a jury of helping to set up a drug deal between a man and a street-level drug dealer underneath his Neutral Bay restaurant in Sydney in April 2021.

He was acquitted of the more serious charge of taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug following a District Court trial but 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.

MacGill was spared jail and ordered by Judge Nicole Noman to serve a one year and 10 month intensive corrections order and perform 495 hours of community service.

His appeal was thrown out by the court on Wednesday.

During his trial the court was told that Person A was MacGill’s drug dealer, with the Crown having alleged that Person A and a man came to an agreement to exchange $330,000 for 1kg of cocaine.

The court was told MacGill had acted as a go-between before setting up a meeting between the pair underneath Aristotle’s restaurant, which MacGill ran.

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’s barrister, Dominic Toomey SC previously told the Court of Criminal Appeal that 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 a half a gram, which would equate to $400 a gram.

And if Person A was buying 250g from the man for $330,000, that would be at rate of $1320 per gram. That would mean he would be buying the cocaine for 3.3 times the price that he was selling for, Mr Toomey argued.

“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 $330000, it could not have been an amount under 250g,” Mr Toomey told the court.

Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Nicholson in turn argued that it was “well open” for the jury to make a finding that MacGill took part in a drug deal for a “non-specific amount”.

Justices Anthony Payne, Belinda Rigg and Helen Roberts unanimously dismissed MacGill’s appeal on Wednesday.

“It was reasonably open to the sentencing judge to form the conclusion that the amount of $330,000 was settled ahead of time,” they said in their reasons for judgment.