Latest news with #MichaelBurbidge
ABC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Matt Wright told he needs to 'know who to trust' in phone recording played to court
A pilot who worked with Matt Wright on crocodile egg-collection missions has told jurors there was no "criminal intent" in a warning he gave the Netflix star that he needed to "know who to trust". Remote Helicopters Australia director Michael Burbidge was the first witness to be called on Friday in Mr Wright's Supreme Court trial after the celebrity crocodile wrangler pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The charges relate to the aftermath of a 2022 helicopter crash that killed Mr Wright's co-star Christopher "Willow" Wilson and seriously injured pilot Sebastian Robinson. Prosecutors have stressed Mr Wright is not accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash but allege he sought to frustrate the investigation that followed out of a concern it would reveal evidence he doctored flight records. On Friday, jurors were played a covert telephone intercept of a conversation between Mr Wright and Mr Burbidge that allegedly captured the pilot telling Mr Wright someone had "written in the log book" for the crashed helicopter "clock found disconnected again". "You need to find out who f***in' said it so you know who to trust and not to trust," Mr Burbridge says on the recording. In response to questions from Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC, Mr Burbidge said the conversation was not about the under-recording of hours but "a rumour that an engineer had put something in the log book". "Aren't you really in this phone call saying to Matt 'You better get the log book and see what's been written in it here because it might catch you out'?" Mr Gullaci asked. "That's what you're implying and I'm telling you I just rang a friend," Mr Burbidge replied. Mr Burbridge also denied ever speaking to Mr Wright about disconnecting the Hobbs meter flight-hour recorder in his helicopters. "You were concerned about it because you knew it had been happening?" Mr Gullaci asked. "I don't work for Matt so I don't know what he does, he didn't tell me anything, sir," Mr Burbidge replied. "That wasn't my concern, my concern was just that I'd heard this and wanted Matt to check it out, nothing more nothing [less]." Timothy Luck, who had been collecting crocodile eggs on the trip before Mr Robinson's helicopter crashed, also testified on Friday, saying he had seen the Hobbs meter in Mr Wright's helicopters disconnected on multiple occasions before the crash. "There's been periods of time when I've been in a machine and seen it not working and asked the question," he said. Mr Luck said he had also "seen it physically disconnected once before" during "a crocodile egg mission towards the Arafura Swamp". "In the morning of the second day, we were getting the helicopter ready," he said. "Sebastian Robinson's there with his Leatherman undoing the dash and disconnecting the Hobbs meter. "Chris Wilson was standing in front of the bubble, the windscreen of the helicopter, and he was pretending to take a photo of Sebastian Robinson doing it, with his phone. "He sort of had a laugh and told Chris to F off and Chris laughed back, saying 'I'm just joking.'" Mr Luck also told the court he filled up Mr Robinson's helicopter "completely" minutes before it went down. "Chris Wilson and Sebastian Robinson sort of teased me a little bit to say 'Oi, don't do that', them two boys gave me a bit of stick and we carried on." Under cross-examination by Matt Wright's defence barrister David Edwardson KC, Mr Luck denied lying to support his friend Sebastian Robinson. He said he had "no doubt" he saw either Mr Robinson or Chris Wilson removing the dual controls from the helicopter, IDW, before it left Mount Borradaile and agreed that was part of the reason he was confident he had gone to help the men fill up. "They were taking longer than everyone else, either one of them or both of them were taking the duals out of the machine," he said. Mr Edwardson asked "if I tell you that the dual controls were not removed at Mount Borradaile" whether that would change his testimony "in any way". "No, it would not," he said. Mr Edwardson then took Mr Luck through statements he had made to police indicating an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigator had told him there was no fuel in the helicopter. "After the lady from ATSB told you that they had found no fuel in the tank … you've come along to support your friend Seb haven't you?" he asked. "Of course I support my friend, he's my friend," he replied. "But there's no way that I would be lying in police statements or to the court after somebody's died and somebody's seriously injured to support him in that way." The trial continues on Monday.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Yahoo
Virginia bishop says altar desecration is latest in ‘increasing global trend of attacks' on Catholic Church
A Virginia Catholic bishop says the desecration of the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica on Friday points to a larger worldwide trend of attacks against Catholics. "What took place at Saint Peter's Basilica is unfortunately the latest in an increasing global trend of attacks upon the Catholic Church, including her priests and faithful," Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, told Fox News Digital. On Friday, a man jumped on the main altar at St. Peter's Basilica and knocked over a 19th-century candelabra. Faith Is 'Important' To Notre Dame Football Coach And Catholic Convert: 'Not Shy About It' On X, videos of the incident show the individual throwing what appears to be candlesticks to the ground and ripping off the altar cloth before throwing it to the ground. According to Italian news service ANSA, the cost of the six candelabras the individual threw to the ground is estimated to be €30,000 or $31,000. Read On The Fox News App Fox News Digital reached out to the Vatican Press Office, and did not immediately receive a response, but the Vatican Press Office did tell ANSA that "This is an episode of a person with serious mental disabilities, who was taken into custody by the Vatican Gendarmerie and handed over to the Italian authorities." Why Are Comedians Trending Toward Catholicism? One Quirky Comic Offers A Surprising Explanation Burbidge, who was installed in 2016, told Fox News Digital that "Attacks on the Church are always troubling, but Sacred Scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ and his followers will always be signs of contradiction who will be opposed in this world." He added that "We all must pray for the man who committed violence within Saint Peter's Basilica and that God may pour out his grace on any whose hearts are hurt or who may be tempted to acts of destruction." In a statement to Fox News Digital, CatholicVote said the attack was spiritually and politically motivated. "While the motive of the man who vandalized the altar at St. Peter's is not immediately clear, the epidemic we're seeing is not attributable simply to drugs or mental illness. There are clear spiritual and political motivations behind the disturbing surge," Tommy Valentine, director of the Catholic Accountability Project at CatholicVote, said. Valentine added that the attacks on Catholic churches in the U.S. are "Undeniably driven primarily by pro-abortion domestic extremists and other anti-Catholic factions." "In Canada, dozens of churches have been burned to the ground since the 'mass graves' hoax, which appears to be complete fiction since no graves have ever been found. In France, there seems to be a mix of radical secularism and Islamic extremism driving the problem. In India, attacks on churches and Catholics themselves are now common. In Nigeria, Catholics are regularly kidnapped or martyred. These are just some examples from around the world," he added. According to a report from the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops, there have been at least 366 attacks on Catholic Churches in the United States across 43 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. These attacks include "arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism," according to the USCCB. Valentine, the director of the Catholic Accountability Project at CatholicVote, told Fox News Digital that CatholicVote is also tracking attacks on Catholic churches, and that they have documented 484 attacks since May 2020. So far in 2025, CatholicVote has documented six attacks on Catholic churches. "Public officials in every country have a duty to defend religious freedom," Valentine said. "Anti-Catholic rhetoric, which is now frequent across the Western world, is clearly leading to violence. We are hopeful that the new Trump administration will set a new standard for the world by protecting Catholic churches as equally as they do other places of worship," Valentine article source: Virginia bishop says altar desecration is latest in 'increasing global trend of attacks' on Catholic Church
Fox News
13-02-2025
- Fox News
Virginia bishop says altar desecration is latest in ‘increasing global trend of attacks' on Catholic Church
A Virginia Catholic bishop says the desecration of the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica on Friday points to a larger worldwide trend of attacks against Catholics. "What took place at Saint Peter's Basilica is unfortunately the latest in an increasing global trend of attacks upon the Catholic Church, including her priests and faithful," Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, told Fox News Digital. On Friday, a man jumped on the main altar at St. Peter's Basilica and knocked over a 19th-century candelabra. On X, videos of the incident show the individual throwing what appears to be candlesticks to the ground and ripping off the altar cloth before throwing it to the ground. According to Italian news service ANSA, the cost of the six candelabras the individual threw to the ground is estimated to be €30,000 or $31,000. Fox News Digital reached out to the Vatican Press Office, and did not immediately receive a response, but the Vatican Press Office did tell ANSA that "This is an episode of a person with serious mental disabilities, who was taken into custody by the Vatican Gendarmerie and handed over to the Italian authorities." Burbidge, who was installed in 2016, told Fox News Digital that "Attacks on the Church are always troubling, but Sacred Scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ and his followers will always be signs of contradiction who will be opposed in this world." He added that "We all must pray for the man who committed violence within Saint Peter's Basilica and that God may pour out his grace on any whose hearts are hurt or who may be tempted to acts of destruction." In a statement to Fox News Digital, CatholicVote said the attack was spiritually and politically motivated. "While the motive of the man who vandalized the altar at St. Peter's is not immediately clear, the epidemic we're seeing is not attributable simply to drugs or mental illness. There are clear spiritual and political motivations behind the disturbing surge," Tommy Valentine, director of the Catholic Accountability Project at CatholicVote, said. Valentine added that the attacks on Catholic churches in the U.S. are "Undeniably driven primarily by pro-abortion domestic extremists and other anti-Catholic factions." "In Canada, dozens of churches have been burned to the ground since the 'mass graves' hoax, which appears to be complete fiction since no graves have ever been found. In France, there seems to be a mix of radical secularism and Islamic extremism driving the problem. In India, attacks on churches and Catholics themselves are now common. In Nigeria, Catholics are regularly kidnapped or martyred. These are just some examples from around the world," he added. According to a report from the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops, there have been at least 366 attacks on Catholic Churches in the United States across 43 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. These attacks include "arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism," according to the USCCB. Valentine, the director of the Catholic Accountability Project at CatholicVote, told Fox News Digital that CatholicVote is also tracking attacks on Catholic churches, and that they have documented 484 attacks since May 2020. So far in 2025, CatholicVote has documented six attacks on Catholic churches. "Public officials in every country have a duty to defend religious freedom," Valentine said. "Anti-Catholic rhetoric, which is now frequent across the Western world, is clearly leading to violence. We are hopeful that the new Trump administration will set a new standard for the world by protecting Catholic churches as equally as they do other places of worship," Valentine added.
