Matt Wright was convicted on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a February 2022 helicopter crash that killed co-star Chris Willow Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic. A Darwin supreme court jury failed to reach agreement on a third charge after a four-week trial. The pair were collecting crocodile eggs in Arnhem Land when the Air Transport Safety Bureau concluded the helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed. Prosecutors alleged Wright lied about fuel levels, sought to falsify flying hours and asked a friend to destroy a maintenance release. Wright will appeal and was granted bail despite prosecution calls for custody. The charges did not allege Wright caused the crash.
Reality TV star Matt Wright has been found guilty of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a deadly helicopter crash. But a supreme court jury in Darwin on Friday failed to reach agreement on a third count after a four-week trial. The Outback Wrangler star was accused of trying to cover up evidence following the February 2022 crash that killed his co-star Chris Willow Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
The pair were on a crocodile-egg collecting mission in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, with Wilson slung on a line below the helicopter to be dropped on to crocodile nests in remote swampland. The Air Transport Safety Bureau concluded the helicopter ran out of fuel, causing the engine to shut down and the machine to crash to the ground.
Wright was accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the machine, of trying to get Robinson to falsify flying hours and of asking a friend to torch the helicopter's maintenance release. Wright sat impassively in the dock as the verdicts were delivered and his defence counsel said his client would appeal against the verdicts. He was granted bail despite the prosecution seeking he go into custody given the seriousness of the offences.
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