Crocodile wrangler Matt Wright to face jury verdict after defence targets paraplegic chopper pilot

The jury in crocodile-wrangler Matt Wright’s high-profile trial is tonight deliberating their verdicts after the Netflix star’s South Australian silk accused the crown’s star witness – a paraplegic pilot – of faking a traumatic brain injury to avoid answering questions.

The reality television star’s barrister David Edwardson KC argued during the defence’s closing address on Thursday that the only reasonable conclusion was to find his client not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice on three separate occasions in the days and months following a fatal chopper crash.

Throughout the month-long trial, crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC has alleged Mr Wright’s motive to commit the offences was fear of being blamed and prosecuted for the crash if investigators discovered he had been under-recording the helicopter’s flight hours and putting off required aircraft maintenance.

“That simply makes no sense at all,” Mr Edwardson said in closing.

“Poor paperwork and pulling the Hobbs pin is one thing, but attempting to pervert the course of justice is quite another.

“On the other hand, you might think that there is far more justification for Sebastian Robinson and his family to have a very real and genuine cause for serious concern that Sebastian Robinson might be charged with the manslaughter of Chris Wilson.”

Mr Edwardson said there were “no winners in a case like this”.

“Matt Wright lost his best friend and Sebastian Robinson is, as you now know, a paraplegic,” he said.

“A group of men who were thick as thieves, without a care in the world, doing real Northern Territory outback stuff, will never be the same again.

“The tight-knit friendship that existed amongst this small group of brave people has been forever destroyed by the events that occurred on 28 February 2022 and that, you might think, is a tragedy in itself.”

Mr Edwardson touched on the “extraordinary public interest in this case” which has “thrust a lot of people into the spotlight”.

“The crash has captured the imagination of not just Darwin, but the national and the international media,” he said.

“Matt Wright has gone from the face of Darwin tourism to now sitting in the dock with his fate in your hands.”

Mr Edwardson said only a handful of covertly recorded conversations had made their way into evidence at the month-long trial.

“This case now comes down to an alleged lie about how much fuel was in the crashed helicopter, and allegation of moving hours from one helicopter to another based entirely on a family collective, we say with no credibility at all, and we say, with a much more realistic motive to lie,” he said.

“And finally, an allegation of a request to destroy the original IDW maintenance release based on a recording we say is so poor in quality that it is incomprehensible.”

Sebastian Robinson was flying the helicopter, which Mr Wright owned and operated, when it “fell out of the sky” during a crocodile egg collecting mission at West Arnhem Land.

Mr Robinson and his extended family all testified that Mr Wright allegedly tried to pressure the critically injured pilot to falsify flight records in the days after the crash.

“Can I say this, it gave me no pleasure to cross-examine a young man who has lost his legs in a fatal helicopter crash,” Mr Edwardson said.

“Unfortunately, this cross-examination necessarily traversed many issues that go fairly and squarely to the credibility and reliability of a critical and central prosecution witness.”

The Adelaide silk claimed Mr Robinson’s relatives had tried to protect him “by pointing the finger at Matt Wright”.

Mr Edwardson said “as the months went by during 2022” it had become common knowledge the ATSB “was focusing very much on the likely cause of the accident being fuel exhaustion”.

“If there was going to be anyone in the crosshairs of the authorities, it had to be Sebastian Robinson and not Matt Wright,” he said.

The barrister told the jury that Mr Robinson “deployed” his traumatic brain injury as a “convenient method” to evade answering particular questions from the defence.

“You might remember that when I was asking him questions over quite some time, he repeatedly played the traumatic brain injury card whenever things got difficult and we say — or we suggest — feigned no recollection,” he said.

“I am going to say something somewhat flippant, that, ladies and gentlemen, you saw a true miracle in this courtroom.

“When Pope Jason Gullaci rose to his feet and transformed the incapacitated traumatic brain injury to a fluent, coherent capacity to respond, without any impediment.

“Now that, ladies and gentlemen is a miracle. Not only does (Mr Gullaci) have superhuman hearing but he cured him.”

Mr Wright’s fate now rests in the hands of 12 Darwin locals who he instructed to take as much time as they need to reach their decisions, despite Acting Justice Alan Blow expressing he would like the jury to return their verdicts by the end of the week.

Mr Edwardson told jurors that their deliberations require “intellectual rigour” and to take their time to carefully consider the facts.

“There is no time limit on justice,” he said.

“You must not feel any pressure to return a verdict as soon as possible.

“There is no coming back from a verdict, so it is absolutely imperative that you take as much time as you feel that you need to make sure that you will give justice to this case and indeed my client.”