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Former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill shed tears of joy before drinking six or seven bourbon and cokes in an hour and a half and allegedly intimidating one of his best friend’s former partners, a court has heard.
MacGill, 51, is accused of verbally harassing and intimidating his friend’s ex-fiancee, Samantha Ford, as she was walking down a street in the Sydney CBD and then in a nearby pub on February 1, 2022.
She spent that morning worrying that “one of my best friends”, Stephen Kerlin, was suicidal as she was unable to contact him, MacGill told Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday.
MacGill was concerned about Kerlin’s mental health following the end of his relationship with Ms Ford a few months earlier, he said.
He went to Kerlin’s Barangaroo apartment after hearing that others had been unable to contact him.
MacGill (pictured outside court on Monday) told the court that he had several drinks with his good friend Stephen Kerlin on the day of the alleged offense.
“I rang the bell and he came to the door in his pajamas and I started crying,” MacGill said.
They then celebrated, with MacGill drinking ‘six or seven’ bourbon and cokes in the apartment before heading to Kerlin’s favorite venue, the Captain Cook Hotel.
As they walked, Kerlin saw Mrs. Ford, pointing at MacGill and yelling at her.
“Fuck you, leave us alone, bitch,” that sort of thing, MacGill said.
Then Ms Ford started to come closer and MacGill told her to go away, he said.
“My intention was to go to Captain Cook, so I was quite interested in moving on,” he said.
Minutes later, a hotel bartender was telling Kerlin and Ms. Ford to leave after a heated argument that MacGill said was only “on the fringes.”
The cricket great (pictured with Maria O’Meagher) revealed that he burst into tears when he saw Kerlin, who he feared was suicidal at the time.
Ms Ford told the court on Monday that she went to the Captain Cook Hotel to tell the staff not to serve the couple any more alcohol.
‘(MacGill) went up first and said something like ‘fuck you, you motherfucker’, then said he was going to call the police and said ‘you’re going down, you’re not welcome here,’ Ms Ford said.
Ms Ford said MacGill was above her yelling abuse.
MacGill denied trying to intimidate Ms. Ford or insult her, but agreed to point to Ms. Ford’s face when she told him she was calling the police.
“They separated and have family law issues that have nothing to do with me, but I knew … we needed to get out of that situation,” MacGill said.
Captain Cook Hotel resident Mark Austin told the court that MacGill did not appear threatening while at the hotel, but acknowledged that he could not hear the details of the argument.
MacGill (pictured playing in a Test against West Indies in 2001) admitted that he had not told police everything in a recorded interview about the incident.
MacGill called Detective Sergeant Brett Whitmore, a police officer with whom he had unrelated interactions, for advice.
‘(MacGill) said words similar to ‘she’s going crazy, what should I do’?’ Detective Sergeant Whitmore said.
“I told him that I was at home and that he should contact triple zero,” he said.
MacGill told the court that he did not call triple zero, believing that the incident ended after Kerlin and Ms. Ford left the hotel.
During cross-examination by the prosecutor, Sergeant Michael Cleaver, MacGill acknowledged that he had not told police everything when he gave a recorded interview after the incident, but denied lying to protect his friend, describing some errors in his testimony as misleading. choice of words
“I am a sportsman, not a wordsmith,” MacGill told the court.
He remains on bail pending the court’s decision, which is not expected until at least April.