Latest news with #SebastianRobinson
ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
TV star Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial: Covert recordings capture TV star asking friend to 'torch' evidence, jury hears
Covert recordings of Matt Wright, which prosecutors alleged capture him instructing a friend to "torch" evidence following a fatal 2022 helicopter crash, have been laid out for jurors in his Supreme Court trial. The celebrity crocodile wrangler has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the wake of the crash that killed his Netflix co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson and seriously injured pilot Sebastian Robinson. Mr Wright is not accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash, with the charges confined to his alleged attempts to frustrate the investigation that followed. The court previously heard Mr Wright was allegedly concerned any investigation would expose "systemic under-recording" of flight hours, a practice prosecutors said was common in the industry. On Thursday, Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC told the jury the recordings captured Mr Wright "putting the hard word" on Mr Robinson to doctor the helicopter's records while he was laid up in a Brisbane hospital following the crash. He said while "there were plenty of people who were doing this under-recording" in the NT, the case was "about the allegation the prosecution makes of [Mr Wright] then doubling down on that and trying to hide it". In another recording, Mr Gullaci said Mr Wright was captured discussing the destruction of the flight records with a friend, saying "they are starting to put the pressure on everyone" and "they will start squealing". "[Mr Wright's friend] then says, according to the prosecution case, 'Whatever, boys, lawyer up boys,'" he said. Mr Gullaci said the Crown alleged other recordings captured Mr Wright saying "just torch it" and "I reckon CASA are chasing the original to set us up". In reply, defence barrister David Edwardson KC said Mr Wright "emphatically denies" the allegations and "the credibility of Sebastian Robinson and his extended family is seriously in issue". "Members of the jury, by his pleas of not guilty to all three counts, Matt Wright denies that he did any such thing," he said. Mr Edwardson said much of the prosecution's case was based on its interpretation of what were "extremely poor" quality recordings. He said Mr Wright had personally shown investigators the flight records before his wife, Kaia Wright, uploaded a copy to police. The lawyer also offered a "word of warning" that jurors "must confine your task to what you hear in this courtroom and nothing else". "There has been an extraordinary amount of public interest in this case and this helicopter crash generally," Mr Edwardson said. The first witness called in the trial on Thursday was Darwin businessman and crocodile farmer Mick Burns, who fought back tears as he recounted the day of Mr Wilson's death. Mr Burns said he flew to the crash scene with Mr Wright and accompanied Mr Wilson's body back to Darwin before speaking with his parents. "I remember that somebody gave me Sebastian Robinson's phone but I can't remember who that was," Mr Burns said. "I gave it to his mother, at the hospital, Darwin hospital, it was that night." Former NT Police officer Neil Mellon also testified on Thursday, telling jurors he flew out to the scene of the crash with Mr Wright, becoming visibly emotional in court as he recalled placing Mr Wilson in a body bag. Mr Mellon said he handed Mr Wilson's phone to chopper pilot Mick Burbidge who then made a reference to Mr Wilson's wife, Danielle Wilson. "It was a fleeting comment, it was just — and again, it didn't pique my interest, I didn't pay any attention to it — it was almost a, 'Haha, oh, Dani doesn't need to see what's on that,'" he said. Mr Mellon said Mr Burbidge told him months later the phone was "gone" and "in the ocean". The jury then heard a recorded statutory declaration Mr Wright made in the days after the crash, in which he told detectives the crocodile egg-collecting was "the only operation in the world that consists of what we're doing". "As much as the lads see it as a fun adventurous day, it's also a serious operation that we're doing," he said on the recording. When he arrived at the scene, Mr Wright said "everyone was pretty distraught" and "Willow was there with a tarp over him". "It just looked like Seb [Robinson] had done everything he could in our training," he said. The trial continues in Darwin on Friday.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Matt Wright: Famous croc wrangler's evidence tampering trial begins
Famed Australian crocodile wrangler Matt Wright urged friends to "torch" evidence and tried to pressure a hospitalised witness after a fatal helicopter crash, prosecutors have told his former Netflix star is accused of three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice over the crocodile-egg-harvesting disaster in 2022. Mr Wright's friend and Outback Wrangler co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson, who was suspended from the aircraft in a sling, died when it hit the ground. Pilot Sebastian Robinson also was seriously Wright has pleaded not guilty, and his defence team deny he tampered with any evidence. In their opening address to the Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court, the prosecution said it was not alleging that Mr Wright was responsible for the crash, but accused him of interfering with the was not on board but was among the first on the scene in Arnhem Land, about 500km (310 miles) east of court was told he had a "play around" with the dashboard of the damaged helicopter and falsely reported its fuel tank Jason Gullaci SC also claimed Mr Wright was involved in "systemic under-recording" of flight hours and, worried he might be blamed for the crash, tried to destroy or alter the logs for the helicopter jury was on Thursday shown transcripts of secret recordings made inside Mr Wright's home, including a "critical passage" in which prosecutors claimed he was discussing requests from aviation authorities looking into the incident."Just torch it. I don't know where it is but I'm thinking it's either there - I've got to send it to CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) or the ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)," Mr Wright said, according to the transcript provided by Gullaci also told the court that Mr Wright had visited Mr Robinson at a Brisbane hospital to put "the hard word" on the injured pilot. He alleged Mr Wright asked Mr Robinson to transfer flight hours from the crashed aircraft to another the defence's opening statement, lawyer David Edwardson SC said that under-recording flight hours was standard practice for many pilots in the NT – but Mr Wright "emphatically denies" he broke the law trying to cover this parties agree that authorities were ultimately provided the correct, original flight records, he said, and recordings captured inside Mr Wright's home and relied upon for two of the key allegations were "extremely poor".He added that the defence would dispute the evidence of conversations between Mr Wright and Mr Robinson, saying the pilot's credibility - as well as his extended family's - was "seriously in issue".Mr Wright is best known globally as the star of National Geographic's Outback Wrangler and Netflix's Wild Croc Territory reality shows. The 43-year-old also owns several local tourism businesses and has been a tourism ambassador for trial is expected to run for up to five weeks.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
Secret recordings of reality TV star Matt Wright to be played in Outback Wrangler helicopter crash trial
Secret recordings of reality TV star Matt Wright are set to played during his long-awaited trial on charges following a fatal helicopter crash. The trial began on Wednesday, more than three years after Wright's mate and Outback Wrangler co-star Chris 'Willow' Wilson died in the outback chopper crash that left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic. Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following the February 2022 incident in the Northern Territory. After many delays the trial finally got underway in the Supreme Court in Darwin with crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC outlining his case to the jury. None of the charges related to the cause of the crash and the Crown was not alleging that Wright was responsible for it, the death of Wilson or Robinson's injuries, Gullaci said. He said the crown case was that Wright did not properly record helicopter flying hours and was concerned that crash investigations would uncover that, leading to charges against him and his companies. The jurors were told that part of the evidence put before them would be covertly recorded conversations of Wright and others at his home and on his phone, using secret listening devices. Wilson died doing something 'incredibly brave', dangling from a helicopter to collect crocodile eggs along the King River in Arnhem Land, Mr Gullaci said. Wilson and Robinson were working for Wright as subcontractors to lawfully collect the eggs for sale to crocodile farms. On the day of the crash Wright was fully aware there would be investigations by aviation safety authorities and NT Police, leading to possible charges, Gullaci said. The Crown alleges Wright attempted to provide false information to investigators, manipulated records and avoided procuring relevant documents when required. Wright was the chief pilot, CEO and head of flight operations at his company Helibrook, Gullaci said. As holder of an air operating certificate he was required to abide by all Australian civil aviation regulations and had a duty to ensure safe air operations. The Robinson R44 helicopter involved in the crash had a maximum flying-hour threshold of 2200 hours at which time an operator had to decide to retire the aircraft or give it an overhaul costing more than $400,000. The case was about Wright engaging in practices to not properly record the number of hours, including evidence that a particular meter was deliberately disconnected so it wouldn't record hours, Gullaci said. 'If you don't properly record service hours you put off the maintenance and service requirements. It's a way of extending the life of the aircraft.' That meant the 2200-hour limit ended up being 2640 hours flown and that affected the chopper's airworthiness, Gullaci said. The trial continues.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
Jury selected for trial of Outback Wrangler Matt Wright over claims he attempted to pervert the course of justice
A jury has been selected for the trial of celebrity croc wrangler and reality television star Matt Wright. More than 400 people were summoned to potentially be part of the jury pool for the trial of the Outback Wrangler at the NT Supreme Court. Mr Wright, a Netflix and Apple TV star has pleaded not guilty to three allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice, following the death of his mate and co-star Chris 'Willow' Wilson three years ago. The 34-year-old dad was killed after his chopper crashed into a paperbark swamp at the King River in Arnhem Land on February 28, 2022. Mr Wilson was dangling in a sling from a Robinson R44 during a crocodile egg collecting mission when the chopper went down, killing him and critically injuring his 28-year-old pilot Sebastian Robinson. It is alleged that on three occasions over a seven month period Mr Wright attempted to compromise the investigation into the chopper crash. The number of potential jurors for the trial was whittled down to just over 100 on Wednesday, and prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC asked the potential jury members to declare any conflicts they may have by knowing either Mr Wright, Mr Wilson, his wife Dani Wilson, the legal teams or the dozens of potential witnesses. Over two hours, 53 people told the court why they could not sit on the potential five-week trial, with five stating they knew Mr Wilson or his widow and seven knew Mr Wright personally and professionally. All but three potential jurors were dismissed, with Justice Blow commenting 90 minutes into the process: 'I think we started with 107 jury members, I think I've excused half of them and we're still going'. 'The numbers are dwindling,' Mr Gullaci said. The final jury comprised of four women and eight men, with two female reservists. Justice Blow said he was aware of significant public interest in the trial, warning the final jurors not to let outside information or gossip influence this process. 'I've been told people have seen all sorts of things about this case on social media, for example,' Justice Blow said. 'If you have read, or heard, or been told anything relating to this case prior to this afternoon, it's very important you ignore (it).'
News.com.au
30-07-2025
- News.com.au
Jury plans confirmed after repeated delays in Outback Wrangler Matt Wright's court case
A celebrity croc wrangler and reality television star will have to wait another week before facing the jury for his high-profile crash conspiracy trial. On Wednesday, Matt Wright was told his jury would only be selected next Tuesday, six days after his NT Supreme Court trial was anticipated to begin. The 45-year-old Netflix reality television star of Outback Wrangler has pleaded not guilty to three allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice following the death of his co-star Chris 'Willow' Wilson three years ago. The 34-year-old father was killed after his helicopter crashed into a paperbark swamp at the King River in Arnhem Land on February 28, 2022. Mr Wilson was dangling in a sling from a Robinson R44 during a crocodile egg collecting mission when the chopper went down, killing him and critically injuring his 28-year-old pilot Sebastian Robinson. It is alleged that on three occasions over a seven month period Mr Wright attempted to compromise the investigation into the chopper crash. Mr Wright entered his pleas on Monday, but has faced repeated delays to start the four-week trial due to ongoing legal arguments On Wednesday, Justice Alan Blow said he did not want a jury to be selected, only for them to be left waiting over the Territory Picnic Day long weekend. 'We're not going to be ready to empanel the jury tomorrow,' Justice Blow said. 'If we are ready to empanel them on Friday, I don't want to because I don't want them to hear opening speeches and then go away for a three-day weekend.' He said he would advise the Supreme Court staff that the jury pool — which is expected to include hundreds of Territorians — would have to be called on Tuesday, August 5. Both prosecution and defence teams agreed with the decision to delay the hearing.
