Bush helicopter pilot to front reality TV star's trial
Wright is being tried in the Supreme Court in Darwin on three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following the February 2022 crash in a remote part of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The crown case is that Wright did not properly record helicopter flying hours and was concerned crash investigators would uncover the issue, triggering possible charges against him and his company.
Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC told the jury the charges did not relate to the cause of the accident and it was not alleged Wright was responsible for the crash or the death.
Mr Wilson was in a sling under the helicopter on a crocodile egg collecting mission when it plunged to the ground, killing him and critically injuring pilot Sebastian Robinson, who is now a paraplegic.
The jury on Friday is set to hear from bush helicopter pilot Michael Burbidge who was first onto the crash scene in a paperbark swamp after contact was lost with Mr Robinson's chopper.
Wright flew to the scene in his own helicopter with off-duty police officer Neil Mellon.
Mr Mellon told the jury on Thursday he removed a handgun and phone from Mr Wilson's body and told others at the scene he would put him in a body bag for transport by Careflight chopper to Darwin.
The jury heard a recording of a statutory declaration made by Wright to police days after the crash, saying crocodile egg collection using helicopters had its "inherent risks".
But he said his Helibrook company continued to work with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to minimise risk and make the job as safe as possible.
"Usually it's the crocodiles that's the danger," he said, with collectors dropped onto croc nests to collect the eggs.
"As much as the lads see it as a fun adventurous day, it's also a serious operation that we're doing."
Wright said in his statutory declaration he had no problem releasing maintenance documents to aviation safety authorities.
Everyone who flew into the crash scene was distraught and "pretty well shell-shocked" at the loss of Mr Wilson, whose body had been covered with a tarp, he said.
Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci has told the jury Wright failed to give aviation authorities the crashed chopper's maintenance release and ordered an associate "to just torch it".
It was also the crown case that Wright visited Mr Robinson in Royal Brisbane Hospital days after the crash and was "putting the hard word on him" to falsify helicopter flying hours, which he refused to do.
But defence senior counsel David Edwardson KC said his client "emphatically denied" trying to get Mr Robinson to falsify flight records or telling an associate to find and destroy the maintenance release.
The Darwin trial before acting Justice Allan Blow is expected to take up to five weeks.
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News.com.au
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Perth Now
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Bombshell decision in kayak murder case
A former army major charged with the murder of his wife while the pair were kayaking on a lake has been granted bail in a bombshell court decision. Graeme Davidson's case has been in and out of the Supreme Court in Brisbane over the past week as his legal team fought for his release on bail, following the police arrest in May this year. Graeme Davidson is charged with the murder of his wife Jacqueline, after she drowned while the couple were kayaking in Petrie in 2020. Supplied Credit: Supplied Mr Davidson — an ex-Australian Army major who also held the rank of Captain in the British Army — is charged with the murder of his wife Jacqueline in November 2020. The pair were kayaking on Lake Samsonvale in Petrie on November 27 that year when Jacqueline drowned and could not be revived. Police allege Mr Davidson was involved in his wife's death. He is also charged with fraud and attempted fraud, relating to allegations he fraudulently collected a life insurance payout worth $200,000, before attempting to claim another $950,000. Mr Davidson has not entered a plea to the charges. A bail application in the Supreme Court which began on July 31 has spread over four hearing days. Craig Eberhardt KC, Mr Davidson's defence barrister, has spent much of the application alleging inconsistencies and weaknesses in the Crown's case against his client. On Friday, Justice Thomas Sullivan said the Crown had accepted their case 'could not be described as strong'. 'I have decided to treat the case in a neutral way,' he said. Ms Davidson could not be revived after she was pulled from the waters of Lake Samsonvale in 2020. Supplied Credit: Supplied 'I have otherwise formed the view... the identified statutory risks can be ameliorated by appropriate conditions.' Justice Sullivan said Mr Davidson had remarried and started a new family in Thailand - only returning twice to Australia in the years since Jacqueline's death. A surety of $250,000 had been offered for Mr Davidson's release on bail. Justice Davidson said there was a low risk of Mr Davidson attempting to interfere with witnesses, as the court was told both of Mr Davidson's daughters had provided written statements to the Crown and had 'co-operated' at all times with the investigation. Justice Davidson also said there were no charges related to domestic violence against Mr Davidson, including alleged instances in January 2020 and another in 2001 or 2002. Mr Eberhardt had argued during the bail application there was no evidence to either of these allegations. The court was told some of the bail conditions required Mr Davidson to report to police every day, abiding by a curfew and not approaching a number of Queensland airports. Throughout the bail application, the court was told the case against Mr Davidson was 'circumstantial' – which has led to clashing submissions by Mr Eberhardt and crown prosecutor Caroline Marco. Ms Marco reiterated Justice Sullivan did not need to rule on the strength of the case — which was still in its early stages — and only determine if Mr Davidson had shown cause as to why his detention in pre-trial custody was unjustified. On Wednesday, she said Mr Davidson had allegedly given inconsistencies in statements following his wife's death. Some include allegedly telling witnesses that she 'jumped, or dived' into the water from the kayak and that she was still 'alive', 'conscious' when she was pulled to shore. Mr Davidson is alleged to have texted a friend about divorce in Thailand in 2023. Queensland Police Service Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Davidson's phone allegedly 'ceased to exist on the network' at 11.14am – an hour after the couple set off on their kayaks. Ms Marco said the device had never been recovered and there was 'inexplicable evidence' of its disconnection from the network. 'There had to be a reason why it could not be used to render assistance to Jacqueline, and therefore to justify the course that was taken of walking her two kilometres back to the boat ramp,' she told the court. Texts between Mr Davidson and other witnesses both before and after Jacqueline's death have also been explored in court. The court has previously been told Ms Davidson discovered her husband was having an affair with a woman in Papua New Guinea in 2019, leading to a strain in their marriage. It is alleged three years after the drowning, Mr Davidson texted a friend where he described himself as a 'cliche' because he was an 'older man married to a younger woman'. Crown Prosecutor Caroline Marco said Mr Davidson posed an 'unacceptable risk' if released on bail. NewsWire / John Gass Credit: News Corp Australia Craig Eberhardt KC, who is representing Mr Davidson. NewsWire / John Gass Credit: News Corp Australia It was allegedly followed by the comment: 'There are lots of western divorcees out here because are no de facto rules and you can't lose 50 per cent of your s--t'. Ms Marco said this exchange went to allegations that Mr Davidson expressed concerns about 'dividing assets' in the event of a failed relationship. Another exchange at the centre of the application allegedly involved Mr Davidson telling a friend, known as Chesty, that he would kill his wife and move to Thailand if she ever 'sought a divorce and made a claim to his military pension'. Mr Eberhardt said this was nothing more than a 'quip' – in the context of the pair discussing how Chesty's wife had announced she was leaving him and moving to Thailand, taking half his assets with him. But Ms Marco said this was not supported by evidence as Chesty was allegedly 'shocked'. The court was told there was no evidence Jacqueline had been 'violently assaulted' and the couple's marriage had never been marked with violence. The court was told Mr Davidson's phone had not been recovered and allegedly 'ceased to exist on the network' an hour before the kayaking trip. Supplied / Channel 9 Credit: Supplied Minor bruises found on Jacqueline's body were consistent with CPR attempts and Mr Davidson's attempts to recover his wife's body from the water, Mr Eberhardt said. Through an affidavit filed to the court, Mr Davidson described how he and his wife were '10m apart' on the water when he attempted to 'show off' by standing up on his kayak. 'Jacqueline became distressed about that and used the 'safe word' … designed to let him know that she was concerned about what he was doing,' Mr Eberhardt read from the court document. Mr Davidson allegedly saw his wife 'fall off the kayak' and he went into the water to find her – but could not see because it was 'murky' and full of grass weeds. According to Mr Davidson's statement, the pair were not wearing life jackets because they had been 'eaten by rats' at their house in Bondi before they moved back to Queensland. 'There's evidence to that effect in a statement of (a woman) … she had been told prior to the death that the life jackets had been eaten by rats,' Mr Eberhardt said.
