'They stripped me naked, beat me up, then dumped me': Stuart MacGill reveals details of horrific kidnapping incident

Sports

Hindustan Times
19 June, 2022, 05:45 pm
Last modified: 19 June, 2022, 05:50 pm
The 51-year-old cricketer, who represented Australia between 1998 and 2008, revealed that he had no idea of the location, but was physically harmed after the car had stopped and was dumped there.

Almost 15 months back, a horrifying incident had shaken world cricket to its core when a former Australia cricket star was kidnapped and then released in Sydney. The cricketer was not just abducted but also beaten up before being dumped in a car. And 15 months hence, for the first time ever, Stuart MacGill, opened up on the details of the horrifying incident.

The incident happened on April 14 and four people were arrested in connection to the kidnapping, and one of them is the brother of his partner, Maria O'Meagher. The case will however not go to court before October next year and hence MacGill had to hold back certain details of the incident during his interview on SEN WA Breakfast.

"It was not something you'd even like to happen to your worst enemy," MacGill said. "Later in the day, it was getting quite dark, I was bundled into a car.

"I didn't want to get into the car, I said to them twice, 'I'm not getting in the car,' but then it became obvious they were armed, and they said, 'We know you're not involved, we just want to have a chat,' then they put me in the car and I was in the car for an hour and a half."

The 51-year-old cricketer, who represented Australia between 1998 and 2008, revealed that he had no idea of the location, but was physically harmed after the car had stopped and was dumped there.

"I didn't know where we were, I didn't know where we were going and I was scared," MacGill said. "From that point, they stripped me naked, beat me up, threatened me, and then just dumped me. That was over the course of maybe three hours out in the middle of nowhere in a little shed.

"I was scared, I was humiliated and I really didn't know what was going to happen. Then they chucked me back in the car and dropped me in Belmore, and I didn't really know where I was then either, to be honest."

Following the incident, MacGill revealed that he had ran for his safety for nearly six weeks before returning home.

"I basically ran away for a month afterward," MacGill said.

"Maria chucked me in the back of her car, I was in the boot, I got out of my unit, then I had a couple of mates who very generously put me up in hotels around Sydney for two or three weeks, and then I went away with (a friend).

"We ended up driving up the coast of New South Wales and through Queensland and ended up on Fraser Island, so all up I was probably away for six weeks or so.

"By the time I got home most of the guys had been arrested, which was good."

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