Former Australian spinner Stuart MacGill accused of stalking and verbally intimidating Sydney woman

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Stuart MacGill is accused of stalking and verbally intimidating a woman in Sydney.

Former Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill swore at a woman he was accused of intimidating and told her he was going to call the police on her, a court heard.

MacGill, 51, is accused of stalking and verbally intimidating Samantha Ford as he walked down Sydney’s Kent Street and then later at the Captain Cook Hotel around 6pm on February 1, 2022.

Ms Ford was returning to her Millers Point home on February 1, 2022 after trying to post a package when she heard MacGill and her ex-fiancé Stephen Kerlin approaching, she told the Downing Center Local Court on Monday.

“The first few screams were loud, so I immediately looked up and recognized the two people,” Ms Ford said.

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MacGill was chased by Kerlin, but both were “very drunk,” she said.

Ms Ford described MacGill calling her a “c…” several times among other abuse.

After the pair walked away, Ms Ford went to the nearby Captain Cook Hotel, knowing that her ex-fiancé often attended the venue.

“I went to tell the manager not to sell them any more alcohol,” she said.

“(MacGill) came first and said something like ‘f… off, f… off you c…’, then he said he was going to call the police, and he said ‘you’re going off, you’re not welcome here’,” Ms Ford said.

Ms Ford told the court MacGill stood over her as he shouted abuse.

“I felt scared, very scared, intimidated, threatened,” she said.

In a recorded police interview previously played in court, MacGill said Ms. Ford had been stalking him and his partner for about a year, following him and Kerlin to the hotel.

PHOTO PORT

Stuart MacGill played in the Big Bash for the Sydney Sixers as recently as 2011.

MacGill’s lawyer, Joseph Correy, said Ms. Ford gave different reasons to police on the day of the incident, saying she went to tell the couple to stop abusing her.

Ms Ford told the court she feared the situation would escalate if the pair continued drinking at a hotel just meters from where she lives and works.

She denied following the pair earlier in the day.

Ryan Bourke had been drinking with friends at the nearby Lord Nelson Hotel shortly before MacGill allegedly shouted at Ms Ford.

“I remember it starting off a bit, kind of teasing, and then it got pretty intense after that … it just got louder,” Mr Bourke told the court.

He recalls hearing several swear words from men crossing the road before a woman approached the group who appeared “very scared”.

“She was shaking a bit, she was holding her dog quite tightly and she was looking for some reassurance,” Mr Bourke said.

However, he was unable to identify the two men seen on CCTV walking past his group as they sat outside the Lord Nelson Hotel.

The trial continues.