Trial for Outback Wrangler Matt Wright hears explosive claims

West Australian

2 days ago

A Netflix reality star 'idolised' by his staff was an 'anti-vaxxer' who broke Covid-19 laws and was allegedly secretly recorded talking about tinkering with flight records while visiting a chopper crash survivor left paraplegic in hospital, a jury has heard.
The extraordinary claims about Outback Wrangler Matt Wright were made this week during his trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, where he is charged with three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The 45-year-old celebrity is accused of failing to accurately record flight times in the Robinson-R-44 that crashed in February 2022, killing his co-star Chris 'Willow' Wilson. It is not alleged Mr Wright is responsible for the crash.
Mr Wilson, 34, was dangling from a sling attached to the helicopter during a dangerous crocodile egg collecting mission when the chopper crashed in Arnhem Land.
CHOPPER RECORDS ALLEGEDLY FUDGED
Pilot Seb Robinson, who survived the crash but is now a paraplegic, testified his former boss was an 'anti-vaxxer' despite Mr Wright going to two Covid restricted areas – the remote helicopter crash site and the injured pilot's Brisbane hospital room.
He told the jury the main reason Mr Wright was not on the egg mission was 'because he was an anti-vaxxer'.
At the time, there were strict Covid rules for anyone entering remote areas in the Territory, where they needed to provide proof of vaccination and take a rapid antigen test.
The jury previously heard Mr Wright flew to the crash site with Wild Harvest NT director Mick Burns and off-duty senior NT Police officer Neil Mellon.
Following the crash, Mr Robinson spent one month in hospital, where Covid restrictions meant two people could visit and everyone needed to provide a valid vaccination certificate.
Mr Robinson said he had just come out of a coma, was heavily sedated and 'hallucinating' but 'vaguely' remembered a visit from Mr Wright and his wife Kaia on March 11.
'I have a vivid memory of him having some sort of paperwork in his hands,' Mr Robinson said.
He alleged his boss wanted to move 'a few' hours from the crashed helicopter – with the call sign IDW – to Mr Robinson's personal chopper,
with the call sign ZXZ.
Mr Robinson, 28, also alleged Mr Wright 'asked to go through my phone and delete a few things'.
'I remember looking over and seeing him holding my phone and flicking through it and deleting things,' Mr Robinson said.
The jury heard the former pilot also deleted 'some stuff', including phone notes for start and stop times for IDW during egg collection trips.
'It was a very hard time for me. I didn't know who to trust and I panicked and went along with it,' he said.
Mr Robinson alleged on Mr Wright's second hospital visit he brought Jai Thomlinson to again discuss the transfer of hours from IDW to ZXZ.
'I just remember having concerns about what was happening,' Mr Robinson said.
'I said I didn't feel comfortable doing it,' he said.
'I don't think (Mr Wright) was upset … he sort of said: 'That's OK.''
A secret mobile audio recording of this hospital visit allegedly captured Mr Wright talking about IDW flight times over the phone.
Mr Robinson admitted he initially repeatedly lied to investigators because he 'panicked' and was worried about losing his pilot's licence.
PILOT'S COCAINE PARTYING
Mr Robinson admitted he used cocaine 'a couple times a year' – up to 10 times over 12 months – but he denied he was a 'raging cocaine junkie'.
The former pilot said he had never flown a helicopter while intoxicated, either by drugs or alcohol.
He admitted he sometimes supplied cocaine for his mates and footy players, as well as flying small amounts of booze into Aboriginal communities.
But Mr Robinson denied being a 'drug dealer' while being questioned about a series of texts about his wild partying.
Mr Wright's defence counsel David Edwardson accused Mr Robinson of 'sourcing and supplying' cocaine from 2018 to the time of the crash.
Mr Edwardson read messages from the pilot's friends asking 'are you getting more coke?', 'Seb any chance you know where to get the good stuff?' and 'anyone got bags?'.
In one message exchange, Mr Robinson told a friend he was 'crook as a dog', with his mate replying 'snorting too much coke out of Matty's arse?'.
Mr Robinson said the friend knew Mr Wright. But the lawyer has said the reality star had a 'zero tolerance' approach to drugs.
Under cross-examination, Mr Robinson was also grilled about a message sent to a mate in November 2019, saying there were 'footy players in town wanting bags' and other texts referring to 'zingers' and 'pills'.
'Are you implying I'm a drug dealer? … No,' Mr Robinson said.
While Mr Robinson did not believe he was a trafficker, Justice Alan Blow explained: 'It is trafficking, even if you're not making any money for yourself.'
Trace amounts of cocaine were detected in Mr Robinson's blood, which prosecutor Jason Gullaci said experts were likely to say was from use days before the crash.
Mr Robinson admitted to flying in booze to remote communities, but said he did not sell the alcohol.
He said 'on occasion' he would take a small amount of alcohol under the seat of his chopper for people in Arnhem Land.
PILOT'S INJURIES
Mr Robinson said his last memory from that fateful day was 'having a laugh' with his mate in the chopper.
The jury was shown a photo of Mr Wilson piloting the Robinson R-44, with the image appearing to capture the fuel gauge between three-quarters and completely full mark.
Mr Robinson said at that level, the helicopter should have been able to travel from Noonamah to King River and back.
He became emotional as he shared his next memory – waking up in hospital, then being told his friend was dead and he would likely never walk again.
Mr Robinson's spinal cord was completely severed, he had 12 broken ribs and puncturing in his lungs. His neck, elbow and both ankles were also fractured.
He said he struggled with his memory due to a traumatic brain injury.
NETFLIX STAR AN 'IDOL'
Fellow helicopter pilot Jock Purcell told the jury he took official aviation records from Mr Robinson's home two days after the crash but could not recall who asked him to do it.
He said he did not show the logbook to anyone or take photos of the official records, but was later asked by Mr Robinson to return the records.
'I took it home, and then Seb's brothers come and got it from my house,' Mr Purcell said.
However, in a tapped telephone conversation between Mr Purcell and Mr Wright five months after the crash, the pair allegedly discussed Mr Robinson talking to investigators, the crashed chopper's maintenance release and Hobbs Meter, which records flight hours.
'Something had gone on with the Hobbs there, I dunno, they've moved it forward or some f***ing thing as well,' Mr Wright said.
'I'm just trying to think how much Sebby's, or what Sebby's tried to say to them, if anything even.'
The pair then said some of that information could have been gathered from the maintenance release, which pilots fill out to record flight hours and service histories of helicopters.
Three years after the bugged call, Mr Purcell told the court he was unsure if it was related to the crash investigation.
Mr Purcell, who arrived at the crash scene, initially said he did not remember anyone approaching but then said the only thing removed were a few headsets.
However, under cross examination, Mr Purcell said: 'I know someone lifted the dash of the helicopter.'
Mr Purcell said he checked to see why the chopper might have gone down, and happened to notice the Hobbs Meter was connected.
But Mr Gullaci alleged the sole purpose for Mr Purcell to look under the dash was to inspect this device 'because you knew there was a practice among Matt Wright's helicopters of the Hobbs Meter being disconnected'.
'And you wanted to see whether it was connected or not, for when investigators turned up to look at the crashed helicopter?' Mr Gullaci asked.
Mr Purcell said he did not believe that was the case.
When asked what else he could have been inspecting, the experienced pilot said: 'I'm not an investigator so I don't know.'
However, Mr Purcell had already conceded there was a pattern of not recording flight hours, and had previously seen both Mr Wright and Mr Robinson disconnect the Hobbs Meter.
He said there were times when the flight hour recorder was disconnected because 'it was getting close to service'.
Mr Robinson also made full admissions to the jury of his own dodgy record keeping practices, which he said were common across the Territory helicopter industry.
After almost a decade in the industry, Mr Robinson alleged he had worked for two other businesses which had similarly failed to properly record flight hours.
Mr Robinson agreed he continued to 'break the rules' while working at Mr Wright's company.
'(Mr Wright) would say 'pop the clock for this trip',' Mr Robinson alleged.
He also said Mr Wright 'controlled all aspects of his aircraft regarding maintenance scheduling'.
Mr Robinson said employees 'absolutely' followed Mr Wright's directions.
'We were young men, we looked up to him,' he said.
'Everyone looked at Matt as an idol. He'd say 'jump' and they'd say 'how high?'
'He had an aura about him.
'Everyone wanted to be around him, work for him, everyone bent over backwards to try and be a part of what he was doing.'
The trial continues.