Outback Wrangler trial: Matt Wright accused of cover up in chopper crash as jury warned on social media use

A prosecutor alleges celebrity croc-wrangler Matt Wright tried to cover up that he had not properly maintained his aircraft before the chopper crash that killed his Netflix co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson paraplegic.

During his opening address on day one of Mr Wright’s criminal trial on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC alleged the reality television star feared that — following the fatal accident — investigators would discover he had been non-compliant with a number of his obligations as a helicopter operator.

Mr Wright is facing a five-week trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the investigation into the fatal crash. The 45-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mr Wright’s aviation business Helibrook, which recently went into liquidation, owned the destroyed Robinson R44, registered VH-IDW, which crashed during a crocodile egg collecting mission at West Arnhem Land on February 28, 2022.

In Darwin on Wednesday, Mr Gullaci outlined the crown’s case for the jury.

“He is charged with three different counts, but all the same type of offence,” Mr Gullaci said.

“He is charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice on three separate occasions in three separate ways.”

Mr Gullaci said Mr Wright’s charges relate to his alleged attempts to “provide false information in relation to the investigation” and to “interfere with the lawful investigations that occurred concerning the helicopter crash”.

The crown alleged Mr Wright did this “by avoiding producing relevant original documents where required and in attempting to manipulate records, to cover up certain things that had occurred with the helicopter that was involved in the crash”.

Mr Wright’s aviation business Helibrook, which recently went into liquidation, owned the destroyed Robinson R44 which crashed during a crocodile egg collecting mission at West Arnhem Land on February 28, 2022.

Mr Wright’s first charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice is alleged to have occurred on March 3 of 2022 in Darwin.

Count two is alleged to have occurred between March 3 and March 13 of 2022 in Darwin and elsewhere.

Count three is alleged to have occurred between September 21 and September 25 of 2022 in Darwin and elsewhere.

Mr Gullaci told the jury that none of Mr Wright’s charges related to the cause of the helicopter crash itself but that “the focus of the prosecution case is on what Mr Wright did after the crash happened”.

“Mr Wright, on the day of the crash, was aware there was going to be an investigation into that accident,” he said.

“He also, the prosecution says, knew that charges, criminal charges, might be laid concerning the crash.

“That is, he, himself, could be charged — or one of his companies could be charged — where he held a position of responsibility.”

Multiple agencies launched investigations into the crash.

“So that’s what this case is about because, and I don’t think it’s in dispute, Matt Wright engaged in practices whereby the hours that were actually flown by his helicopters were not properly recorded,” Mr Galluci said.

“There were certain mechanisms by which that could be done and the prosecution case is that that’s one of the things that motivates him to do what he does after the accident.

“Because he had been engaging in a pattern of behaviour of doing that and he was concerned that it would be uncovered by the investigation that would follow.”

The court heard that helicopter operators were required to have their aircraft serviced at regular hourly intervals, usually every 50 flying hours.

After flying 2200 hours, Robinson R44 helicopters have to be permanently retired or completely overhauled, which could cost up to $460,000.

“What this case drills down into, the allegation is this, if you don’t properly record all your hours, you put off the maintenance and service requirements,” Mr Gullaci said.

The Melbourne-based barrister told the jury they would be exposed to evidence in the form of witness testimony, documents and audio recordings.

“So in the course of this investigation, a covert listening device was installed at the home of Mr Wright and certain conversations were captured that are going to be played to you and are relied on,” Mr Gullaci said.

“There are also some limited telephone intercept calls, so similar to a listening device, albeit calls that were made involving Mr Wright were intercepted and recorded, and again, you will hear some of those calls.”

A covertly recorded conversation between Mr Wright and Mr Robinson, when the pilot was in hospital, will also be played to the jury.

The court heard that Darwin publican Mick Burns, who owns the crocodile-egg harvesting business, would be the first witness called.

The former police officer, known as the Top End’s ‘crocodile king’, is expected to give evidence on Thursday morning.

“He is a very knowledgeable man in this field generally and he will explain to you some of the nuances about crocodile egg collection and the history of it,” Mr Gullaci said.

“The other person who is going to feature very prominently that you need to know something of is Sebastian Robinson, the pilot, who was flying the helicopter that crashed.

“There is no doubt that Sebastian Robinson at the time of the crash was an experienced pilot, had been operating helicopters since 2017, so he had been flying for about seven years.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Acting Justice Alan Blow warned the jury to ignore social media commentary and resist speaking to anyone about the trial.

A jury, consisting of eight male and four female jurors, with two female reserve jurors, was empanelled on Tuesday.

Mr Wright’s barrister David Edwardson KC will also deliver a brief opening address.

The trial will resume on Thursday morning.