Matt and Kaia Wright: Celebrity croc-wrangling couple face Darwin court over horror airboat crash

Outback Wrangler host Matt Wright and his wife Kaia have faced court for the first time since they were both charged over a serious airboat crash, that scalped a passenger and fractured her skull, at one of their Top End tourism operations.

In October, NT WorkSafe charged the reality television stars and their company Top End Safari Camp over the 2023 airboat crash that injured eight passengers.

The matter was briefly mentioned in the Darwin Local Court for the first time on Thursday.

The airboat crash occurred near the couple’s Top End Safari Camp in Bynoe, south-west of Darwin, on May 10 last year.

A group of 102 tourists had been visiting at the time.

As part of a day tour, 26 tourists were taken on two airboats — driven by the Wrights’ employees — on the crocodile-infested Finniss River.

Airboats are flat bottomed vessels, propelled by giant fans instead of motors, that glide across the surface.

During the cruise, one of the Wrights’ airboats — Gale Force — crashed into the base of a semi-submerged tree at Sweets Lagoon with such force that the 13 passengers on-board were ejected from their seats.

NT WorkSafe said eight of the passengers were injured, with the most seriously injured passenger suffering a fractured skull and significant cut to their head.

CareFlight airlifted two of the women with head and leg injuries to hospital.

In October, NT WorkSafe charged Top End Safari Camp Pty Ltd with four breaches of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011.

NT WorkSafe also charged the company’s two directors, Mr and Mrs Wright, with three breaches of the Act.

If found guilty of all charges, Top End Safari Camp Pty Ltd faces a maximum $4 million combined penalty.

Mr Wright and his wife, who joined him as director of the commercial tourism company in 2021, face maximum penalties of $700,000 each.

NT WorkSafe Director Peggy Cheong told Judge Therese Austin on Thursday that a full brief of evidence was almost complete and would be provided to the defendants in the coming days, according to the NT News.

The Wrights’ barrister Giles O’Brien-Hartcher sought an adjournment to allow time to assess the brief of evidence.

Judge Austin adjourned the matter until February 26.

That is the same day Mr Wright will return to the Federal Court in Sydney, where Danielle Wilson is suing him, his aviation company Helibrook and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority over her husband’s death in a helicopter crash.

Helibrook owned and operated a Robinson R44 which collided with terrain during a crocodile egg collecting mission, in remote West Arnhem Land, in February 2022.

The Wrights’ Netflix co-star Chris Wilson, who was the egg collector, was killed while pilot Sebastian Robinson suffered severe spinal injuries and is now paraplegic.

The respondents in that matter are in the process of filing a stay application for the civil case to be heard after Mr Wright’s criminal proceedings are finalised.

The stay application will be heard on February 26.

Meanwhile, Mr Wright has multiple other legal battles afoot.

Earlier this year, the Territory’s workplace safety watchdog charged him and Helibrook with “reckless conduct for operating unsafe aircraft” following Wilson’s fatal chopper crash.

If found guilty of all charges, Helibrook faces a maximum combined penalty of $6 million, while Mr Wright faces a maximum combined penalty of $1.2 million or five years imprisonment or both.

Those matters will return to the Darwin Local Court for a preliminary examination on February 10.

Mr Wright is also before the Darwin Local Court over allegations he breached the Territory’s Planning Act by illegally using his backyard, in the semi-rural suburb of Virginia, as a helicopter landing strip.

He was recently charged with using land in contravention of the planning scheme and contravening a permit.

Despite a ruling in the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal that the Wrights must stop using choppers at their property outside of Darwin, Mr Wright allegedly continued to fly rotorcraft to and from his home between April 26 and May 8 this year.

Earlier this week Judge Greg MacDonald was told that, following discussions between prosecutor Jon Bortoli and Mr Wright’s solicitor, the charges had been resolved and Mr Wright would enter a plea, according to the NT News.

Those matters will return to court in April.

In July, Wright’s eight-week trial before Chief Justice Michael Grant will start in the NT Supreme Court where he is facing one charge attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the fatal chopper crash investigation. There will be a pre-trial mention on February 11.

He also has six lesser charges – destroying evidence, fabricating evidence, unlawfully entering a building, unlawfully entering a dwelling, making a false declaration and interfering with witnesses in a criminal investigation or court process by making threats/reprisals – suspended in the Darwin Local Court until September 1, 2025.