Former Australian test cricketer Stuart MacGill swore at a woman he has been accused of intimidating and told her he was going to call the police on her, a court has heard.
MacGill, 51, is accused of stalking and verbally intimidating Samantha Ford while walking 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 from trying to mail a parcel on February 1, 2022 when she heard MacGill and her former fiance Stephen Kerlin approaching, she told the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday.
“The first couple of screams were loud so I looked up immediately and I recognised the two people,” Ms Ford said.
MacGill was being trailed by Kerlin, but both were “heavily intoxicated,” she said.
Ms Ford described MacGill calling her a “c***” multiple times amongst other abuse.
After the pair continued walking, Ms Ford went to the nearby Captain Cook Hotel, knowing her former fiance often attended the venue.
“I went to tell the manager not to sell them any more alcohol,” she said.
“(MacGill) came up 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 down, you’re not welcome here’,” Ms Ford said.
Ms Ford told the court MacGill was standing over her as he yelled abuse.
“I felt scared, very scared, intimidated, threatened,” she said.
In a recorded police interview previously played to the court, MacGill said Ms Ford had been stalking him and his partner for about a year, and had followed him and Kerlin to the hotel.
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 pair to stop abusing her.
Ms Ford told the court she feared the situation would escalate if the pair kept drinking at a hotel that is only metres away from where she lives and works.
She denied having followed the pair earlier in the day.
Ryan Bourke was drinking with friends at the nearby Lord Nelson Hotel shortly before MacGill allegedly shouted at Ms Ford.
“I remember it starting a bit, sort of teasy, and then it got pretty intense after that … it just got louder,” Mr Bourke told the court.
He recalled hearing several swear words from men crossing the road before a woman approached the group appearing “very scared”.
“She was shaking a little bit, she was holding her dog pretty tightly and she was seeking 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 hearing continues.
