Update in legal fight over Netflix star's death
Mr Wilson was killed in a helicopter crash while on a crocodile egg collecting expedition in the Northern Territory in February 2022.
Pilot Sebastian Robinson was left a paraplegic.
At the time of the crash, Mr Wilson was being hung from the helicopter by a sling.
Last year, his widow Danielle Wilson began proceedings in the Federal Court seeking damages for personal injury as well as for the loss of her husband's income.
She is suing the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Outback Wrangler co-star Matt Wright and his company Helibrook. Danielle Wilson said she was pleased to have an 'arguable case' against the Australian air safety regulator. Christian Gilles / NewsWire Credit: NewsWire
She appeared on Wednesday in the Federal Court, where an interlocutory hearing was brought by CASA before Justice Elizabeth Raper.
The regulator was seeking to have the case brought against it struck out, arguing Helibrook was instead at fault for Mr Wilson's death because it failed to comply with safety regulations.
CASA argued that Ms Wilson's statement of claim did not have 'reasonable prospects of success' and the proceedings were 'frivolous'.
However, Ms Wilson's solicitor David Lloyd SC told the court that CASA was a 'significant cause' of the TV star's death.
'To put it shortly, the primary case against CASA is that Mr Wilson should never have been in the air, and CASA should never have cleared activities of that kind,' he said.
Meanwhile, Russell McIlwaine SC, acting on behalf of CASA, told the court that Helibrook was to blame. Chris 'Willow' Wilson with his wife Danielle. Supplied Credit: Supplied
'Had Helibrook complied with those conditions imposed by CASA, the accident wouldn't have happened and Mr Wilson wouldn't have been killed,' he said.
The court was told a sling height limit of five metres was imposed by CASA to ensure the safety of Mr Wilson while he collected the crocodile eggs.
However, it's alleged that Helibrook did not comply with this height limit, which was intended to 'assist someone in the helicopter' if 'something goes wrong' or an emergency landing was needed.
Mr McIlwaine added that CASA could 'not be expected' to go out and supervise 'every flight of every aircraft'.
'CASA is entitled to set rules which people are expected to obey …. which on this day, they were not obeyed,' he argued.
Justice Raper dismissed CASA's interlocutory application, finding the regulator's claims were 'untenable'.
Ms Wilson reflected on Justice Raper's decision outside federal court on Wednesday.
'It's been more than three years since we lost Willow in the most tragic of circumstances,' she said.
'I am pleased that today in court we heard that we do have an arguable case against CASA.'
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The mother of a pilot badly injured in a helicopter crash has vehemently denied she and her family concocted claims against reality TV star Matt Wright to protect her son. Wright, the star of Outback Wrangler, is on trial in Darwin Supreme Court having pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The charges follow the helicopter crash in February 2022 that killed Wright's friend and co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson on a crocodile-egg collecting mission in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. Pilot Sebastian Robinson, 32, was left a paraplegic after the crash. The charges do not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution does not allege Wright is responsible for the crash, Mr Wilson's death or Mr Robinson's injuries. Wright has been accused of trying to get Mr Robinson to fake flying-hour records because he was concerned crash investigators would find out he and his pilots had disconnected flight-time meters and faked paperwork. 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The Advertiser
8 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Historic plea as NZ soldier admits espionage attempt
A New Zealand soldier who tried to spy for a foreign power has admitted to attempted espionage in a military court. Monday's conviction was the first for spying in New Zealand's history. The soldier's name was suppressed, as was what country to which he sought to pass secrets. Military court documents said the man believed he was engaged with a foreign agent in 2019 when he tried to communicate military information including base telephone directories and maps, assessments of security weaknesses, his own identity card and log-in details for a military network. The wording of the charge said his actions were "likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand". He was not speaking to a foreign agent, but an undercover New Zealand police officer collecting intelligence on alleged right-wing extremist groups, documents supplied by the military court showed. 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In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, the man said the two nationalist groups with which the man was involved were "no more than groups of friends with similar points of view to my own", according to Radio New Zealand. The lawyer, Steve Winter, added that his client denied supporting the Christchurch shooter's ideology, RNZ reported. The soldier also pleaded guilty to accessing a military computer system for dishonest purposes. Each of the three charges carries a maximum prison term of either seven or 10 years in New Zealand. His sentence is expected to be delivered by a military panel within days of his conviction. His was the first charge in a New Zealand military court for espionage or attempted spying. The last time such a case reached the civilian courts before was in 1975, when a public servant was acquitted on charges alleging he had passed information to Russian agents. 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The soldier came to law enforcement attention as part of an operation that was established after a March 2019 terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, when an Australian white supremacist opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 51. He was based at Linton Military Camp near the city of Palmerston North. Officers spoke to the man twice about his involvement in a group, court documents showed, and after the government became aware he had expressed a desire to defect he was contacted by the undercover officer. When the soldier's hard drive was searched, investigators found a copy of Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant's live-streamed video of his massacre and a manifesto document he published online before the killings. Possession of either without permission is a criminal offence in New Zealand and the soldier, who admitted that charge too, joins several others convicted in New Zealand of having or sharing the terrorist's banned material. In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, the man said the two nationalist groups with which the man was involved were "no more than groups of friends with similar points of view to my own", according to Radio New Zealand. The lawyer, Steve Winter, added that his client denied supporting the Christchurch shooter's ideology, RNZ reported. The soldier also pleaded guilty to accessing a military computer system for dishonest purposes. Each of the three charges carries a maximum prison term of either seven or 10 years in New Zealand. His sentence is expected to be delivered by a military panel within days of his conviction. His was the first charge in a New Zealand military court for espionage or attempted spying. The last time such a case reached the civilian courts before was in 1975, when a public servant was acquitted on charges alleging he had passed information to Russian agents. A New Zealand soldier who tried to spy for a foreign power has admitted to attempted espionage in a military court. Monday's conviction was the first for spying in New Zealand's history. The soldier's name was suppressed, as was what country to which he sought to pass secrets. Military court documents said the man believed he was engaged with a foreign agent in 2019 when he tried to communicate military information including base telephone directories and maps, assessments of security weaknesses, his own identity card and log-in details for a military network. The wording of the charge said his actions were "likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand". He was not speaking to a foreign agent, but an undercover New Zealand police officer collecting intelligence on alleged right-wing extremist groups, documents supplied by the military court showed. The soldier came to law enforcement attention as part of an operation that was established after a March 2019 terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, when an Australian white supremacist opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 51. He was based at Linton Military Camp near the city of Palmerston North. Officers spoke to the man twice about his involvement in a group, court documents showed, and after the government became aware he had expressed a desire to defect he was contacted by the undercover officer. When the soldier's hard drive was searched, investigators found a copy of Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant's live-streamed video of his massacre and a manifesto document he published online before the killings. Possession of either without permission is a criminal offence in New Zealand and the soldier, who admitted that charge too, joins several others convicted in New Zealand of having or sharing the terrorist's banned material. In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, the man said the two nationalist groups with which the man was involved were "no more than groups of friends with similar points of view to my own", according to Radio New Zealand. The lawyer, Steve Winter, added that his client denied supporting the Christchurch shooter's ideology, RNZ reported. The soldier also pleaded guilty to accessing a military computer system for dishonest purposes. Each of the three charges carries a maximum prison term of either seven or 10 years in New Zealand. His sentence is expected to be delivered by a military panel within days of his conviction. His was the first charge in a New Zealand military court for espionage or attempted spying. The last time such a case reached the civilian courts before was in 1975, when a public servant was acquitted on charges alleging he had passed information to Russian agents. A New Zealand soldier who tried to spy for a foreign power has admitted to attempted espionage in a military court. Monday's conviction was the first for spying in New Zealand's history. The soldier's name was suppressed, as was what country to which he sought to pass secrets. Military court documents said the man believed he was engaged with a foreign agent in 2019 when he tried to communicate military information including base telephone directories and maps, assessments of security weaknesses, his own identity card and log-in details for a military network. The wording of the charge said his actions were "likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand". He was not speaking to a foreign agent, but an undercover New Zealand police officer collecting intelligence on alleged right-wing extremist groups, documents supplied by the military court showed. The soldier came to law enforcement attention as part of an operation that was established after a March 2019 terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, when an Australian white supremacist opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 51. He was based at Linton Military Camp near the city of Palmerston North. Officers spoke to the man twice about his involvement in a group, court documents showed, and after the government became aware he had expressed a desire to defect he was contacted by the undercover officer. When the soldier's hard drive was searched, investigators found a copy of Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant's live-streamed video of his massacre and a manifesto document he published online before the killings. Possession of either without permission is a criminal offence in New Zealand and the soldier, who admitted that charge too, joins several others convicted in New Zealand of having or sharing the terrorist's banned material. In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, the man said the two nationalist groups with which the man was involved were "no more than groups of friends with similar points of view to my own", according to Radio New Zealand. The lawyer, Steve Winter, added that his client denied supporting the Christchurch shooter's ideology, RNZ reported. The soldier also pleaded guilty to accessing a military computer system for dishonest purposes. Each of the three charges carries a maximum prison term of either seven or 10 years in New Zealand. His sentence is expected to be delivered by a military panel within days of his conviction. His was the first charge in a New Zealand military court for espionage or attempted spying. The last time such a case reached the civilian courts before was in 1975, when a public servant was acquitted on charges alleging he had passed information to Russian agents.
