Mother of pilot injured in chopper crash denies 'pointing the finger at Matt Wright' to protect son
The celebrity crocodile wrangler is facing trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the wake of the 2022 accident.
His Netflix co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson was killed in the crash while pilot Sebastian Robinson suffered catastrophic injuries and is now paraplegic.
Neither man is accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash itself.
On Tuesday, Mr Robinson's mother, Noelene Chellingworth, told jurors Mr Wright tried to pressure her son into doctoring flight records while he was laid up in hospital.
"He said to Sebastian that he would like to move hours from IDW over to ZXZ [from] the crashed helicopter [to] Sebastian's helicopter," she said.
Ms Chellingworth also said Mr Wright instructed Mr Robinson to delete things from his phone.
"Sebastian had his phone and Matt's going through saying, 'You need to delete that, delete that, delete that'," she said.
"I remember that it was Sebastian holding the phone and Matt was standing beside him and scrolling on Sebastian's phone saying 'you need to delete, delete, delete'.
"I asked Matt, 'Why are you doing this?', and he sort of fobbed me off and said, 'He's just cleaning up stuff'."
Under cross-examination by defence barrister David Edwardson KC, Ms Chellingworth agreed she helped Mr Robinson "fill in the gaps" during his police interview after the crash.
Catch up on today's live coverage of Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial.
Ms Chellingworth agreed that when she told investigators about Mr Wright's instructions to delete material from her son's phone, Mr Robinson said, "Did that happen?".
"He didn't have any idea about it, did he?" Mr Edwardson asked.
"Not at that time, no," Ms Chellingworth replied.
"It was just a natural reaction from me as his mother trying to protect him and look after him".
But Ms Chellingworth denied "trying to protect him by pointing the finger at Matt Wright on matters that never happened" or colluding with Mr Robinson's brother, Zac Chellingworth, to fabricate evidence.
"At no stage did he ever, ever, ever suggest to your son that he could or should move hours from IDW to ZXZ," Mr Edwardson suggested.
"I disagree," Ms Chellingworth replied.
"What you and Zac and Seb have done is to try and deflect the blame across to Matt Wright because you were so frightened your son would be held responsible for this crash," Mr Edwardson said.
"I do not agree at all," Ms Chellingworth replied.
"You didn't want the buck to stop with your son," Mr Edwardson said.
"That actually never came across my mind at all," Ms Chellingworth replied.
The trial continues in Darwin on Wednesday when Ms Chellingworth will finish her evidence.
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