Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Yesterday we heard from Sky News that a judge
tore into Channel nine for broadcasting a story on the
eve of the crocodile wrangler Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial,
which gave the idea he's guilty of something and is
going to jail. Now joining us on the line from
Sky News Matt Cunningham, who was in court yesterday following
that case.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Matt, Morning Katie, Matt.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What was the go yesterday with this report on a
current affair?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, look, just to tellon blow appeared someone unimpressed about
this report that went to air on Tuesday night, just
after the jury had been paneled in this case. He
actually brought the members of the jury. He brought them
in the lake and asked them if they had watched
this program that had gone to air. One of them
said that he had, and many were subsequently asked whether
(00:48):
it would affect his ability to remain impartial in this case.
Now he said that it wouldn't, and so the trial
was able to continue. But didn't look at one point
as though there was the potential for the trial to
be aborted very early on, and that would have meant
that the jury would have needed to have been dismissed
(01:10):
and a new jury selected, so he would have been
delayed another week or so but had eventuated. Yeah, but
fortunately that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah. Well, and I think everybody wants to see this
get underway. What else happened on that first day of proceedings.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, basically we heard the beginning of the prosecution's opening address.
So the Crown Prosecutor, Jason Galachi sc has been outlining
the Crown's case against Matt Wright. Now he's been at
pains to point out to the jury that matt Wright
isn't accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash itself,
(01:47):
that crash in February twenty twenty two that killed Chris
Wilson and seriously injured the pilot of that helicopter, Sebastian Robinson. Basically,
what the prosecution is alleging is that matt Wright and
his company, Hollybrook had failed to properly maintain the helicopter
that was involved in that crash, something that the prosecution
(02:11):
said was actually common practice in the Northern Territories aviation industry.
But the charges he said relate to the fact that
they say matt Wright was concerned about the fact that
he knew the helicopter hadn't been properly maintained, and so
after the crash occurred, the prosecution said, he then said
about basically trying to obstruct the investigation into the crash
(02:33):
so that those issues with the maintenance of that helicopter
would not be discovered. So one of the things that
we heard yesterday was that Matt Wright was accused of
regularly disconnecting the Hobbs meter in that helicopter. The Hobbs
meter is essentially the helicop coopter's a dominant. It records
the number of hours that it flies, and there's also
(02:57):
what's called a maintenance release that also manually records those hours.
So the court was told that that Hobbs meter was
regularly disconnected and that there was a practice at Matt
Right's company, But to be fair, the prosecution said, a
widespread industry practice of not properly recording those hours. So
the reason that this happened, we heard was that once
(03:19):
a helicopter reaches a certain number of hours, there are
maintenance requirements. When it gets to twenty two hundred hours,
it has to either be retired the helicopter or undergo
a significant overhaul of its engine that costs anywhere between
four hundred and four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. That's
where the court was told yesterday, and so that is
(03:39):
the motivation, according to the prosecution, of people in the
industry not to properly record these hours. So the case
basically the prosecution out now outlined all of that as
background to the case and said that it was Matt
Wright's concern about the failure to properly maintain that helicopter
(03:59):
that then was his motive to go about trying, they say,
to obstruct the investigation into that crash.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right, And so have the defense now begun their opening
arguments as well, or what are we expecting today?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
No, today we'll hear the prosecution finish its opening address.
So we've heard basically about one in detail, about one
of the three charges against Matt Right. He's facing three
charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He's
pleaded not guilty to all three charges. So yesterday afternoon
(04:40):
we heard mainly about charge one, and this is an
allegation that he lied to police in a statement that
he gave them three days after that helicopter crash. Now,
in that statement he told police that when he fled
out to the crash scene. So he flies out to
the crash scene after the crash occurs. He flies out
there with businessman Nick Burne and off duty police officer
(05:01):
Neil Mallen. They fly out to the crafts in. The
court heard yesterday that matt Wright inspected the fuel tank
of the helicopter when he was out there, and he
told police in that interview that the fuel tank was
half full. We then heard from the prosecution that there
had subsequently been covertly recorded conversations of matt Wright speaking
(05:23):
with friends and with his wife Kiah, and in those
covertly recorded conversations, it's alleged that he said to them
that the fuel tank was empty and that he suspected
that there were issues with a potential leak in the
fuel line. And so that basically amounts to the first
charge that's been laid against him, and that is that
(05:45):
he lied to police in that statement. We've just started
to hear some elements of the second charge, which related
to his attendance at a Brisbane hospital where Sebastian Robinson
was recovering after the crash. But we really only just
got into the beginning of that charge yesterday afternoon before
(06:06):
the court concluded. So we'll hear more about that today
and about the third charge from the prosecution, and then
we'll hear from Matt Wright's defense barrister David Edwardson k C,
who will outline the defense's case. And then the first
person on the witness list if we get that far
today is mc burns and Matt.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Who else are we expecting to be called as witnesses? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Sebastin Robinson is expected to be called as a witness.
His mother, Nolan Chullingworth, is also expected to be called.
I think there are about twenty five witnesses in total
who have been listed to potentially give evidence in this case,
which is expected to run for about four weeks, but
I think we've already been going for nearly a week
(06:53):
and a half, most of that with legal arguments, so
they run a little bit longer than that.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Ye, And so what time does things kick off? This morning?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So ten o'clock we're underway, So what's that about? Forty minutes?
Forty minutes from the court at the moment, and we're
waiting for what's.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It like, Matt. I mean, I asked you this last
week in terms of, you know, the volume of journalists
et cetera there, but also what's it like in the
courtroom at the moment. I mean, there's no doubt it's
probably absolutely packed in there.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh look at to not packed to the rafters. There's
there's a few people in there. There's Matt Wright has
some supporters here. Danny Wilson, who is Chris Wilson's widow,
has been here every day, I think so, And there's
quite a few there's quite a few journalists here. Channel
(07:44):
seven and Channel nine are both both find trees up
here from interstate. So you know, there is quite a
bit of interest around this case, as you would expect,
but you know, probably not as much as I've seen
in some other high profile trials, but that that might
change as we get closer to the pointy end of things.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well, and Matt has there been much reaction from Matt
Wright so far.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Not a lot, to be honest, He has not said
anything to the media. As he's come in and out
of court each day. He's been with his wife Kia
on each occasion and his legal team, so you know,
There's obviously been questions that have been fired off at him,
but he hasn't said anything at this stage. And the
only thing you've heard from you in the court really
(08:32):
was on the first day of the trial last week
when he entered those three not guilty please, when each
of the charges were read out against him.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, Matt Cunningham, no doubt, a busy time for you.
I am sure we're going to be talking regularly as
this case continues, and not really sure for how much longer,
but at this stage it's looking like four weeks.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, that's the idea, Katie, but who knows?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Who knows? Bat Cunningham, thank you very much for keeping
our listeners up to date and keeping the territory up
to date with what's going on. Good to catch up
with you. We'll talk to you again soon, no worries. Thanks,
thank you,
Now. Yesterday we heard from Sky News that a judge
tore into Channel nine for broadcasting a story on the
eve of the crocodile wrangler Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial,
which gave the idea he's guilty of something and is
going to jail. Now joining us on the line from
Sky News Matt Cunningham, who was in court yesterday following
that case.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Matt, Morning Katie, Matt.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What was the go yesterday with this report on a
current affair?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, look, just to tellon blow appeared someone unimpressed about
this report that went to air on Tuesday night, just
after the jury had been paneled in this case. He
actually brought the members of the jury. He brought them
in the lake and asked them if they had watched
this program that had gone to air. One of them
said that he had, and many were subsequently asked whether
(00:48):
it would affect his ability to remain impartial in this case.
Now he said that it wouldn't, and so the trial
was able to continue. But didn't look at one point
as though there was the potential for the trial to
be aborted very early on, and that would have meant
that the jury would have needed to have been dismissed
(01:10):
and a new jury selected, so he would have been
delayed another week or so but had eventuated. Yeah, but
fortunately that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah. Well, and I think everybody wants to see this
get underway. What else happened on that first day of proceedings.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, basically we heard the beginning of the prosecution's opening address.
So the Crown Prosecutor, Jason Galachi sc has been outlining
the Crown's case against Matt Wright. Now he's been at
pains to point out to the jury that matt Wright
isn't accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash itself,
(01:47):
that crash in February twenty twenty two that killed Chris
Wilson and seriously injured the pilot of that helicopter, Sebastian Robinson. Basically,
what the prosecution is alleging is that matt Wright and
his company, Hollybrook had failed to properly maintain the helicopter
that was involved in that crash, something that the prosecution
(02:11):
said was actually common practice in the Northern Territories aviation industry.
But the charges he said relate to the fact that
they say matt Wright was concerned about the fact that
he knew the helicopter hadn't been properly maintained, and so
after the crash occurred, the prosecution said, he then said
about basically trying to obstruct the investigation into the crash
(02:33):
so that those issues with the maintenance of that helicopter
would not be discovered. So one of the things that
we heard yesterday was that Matt Wright was accused of
regularly disconnecting the Hobbs meter in that helicopter. The Hobbs
meter is essentially the helicop coopter's a dominant. It records
the number of hours that it flies, and there's also
(02:57):
what's called a maintenance release that also manually records those hours.
So the court was told that that Hobbs meter was
regularly disconnected and that there was a practice at Matt
Right's company, But to be fair, the prosecution said, a
widespread industry practice of not properly recording those hours. So
the reason that this happened, we heard was that once
(03:19):
a helicopter reaches a certain number of hours, there are
maintenance requirements. When it gets to twenty two hundred hours,
it has to either be retired the helicopter or undergo
a significant overhaul of its engine that costs anywhere between
four hundred and four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. That's
where the court was told yesterday, and so that is
(03:39):
the motivation, according to the prosecution, of people in the
industry not to properly record these hours. So the case
basically the prosecution out now outlined all of that as
background to the case and said that it was Matt
Wright's concern about the failure to properly maintain that helicopter
(03:59):
that then was his motive to go about trying, they say,
to obstruct the investigation into that crash.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right, And so have the defense now begun their opening
arguments as well, or what are we expecting today?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
No, today we'll hear the prosecution finish its opening address.
So we've heard basically about one in detail, about one
of the three charges against Matt Right. He's facing three
charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He's
pleaded not guilty to all three charges. So yesterday afternoon
(04:40):
we heard mainly about charge one, and this is an
allegation that he lied to police in a statement that
he gave them three days after that helicopter crash. Now,
in that statement he told police that when he fled
out to the crash scene. So he flies out to
the crash scene after the crash occurs. He flies out
there with businessman Nick Burne and off duty police officer
(05:01):
Neil Mallen. They fly out to the crafts in. The
court heard yesterday that matt Wright inspected the fuel tank
of the helicopter when he was out there, and he
told police in that interview that the fuel tank was
half full. We then heard from the prosecution that there
had subsequently been covertly recorded conversations of matt Wright speaking
(05:23):
with friends and with his wife Kiah, and in those
covertly recorded conversations, it's alleged that he said to them
that the fuel tank was empty and that he suspected
that there were issues with a potential leak in the
fuel line. And so that basically amounts to the first
charge that's been laid against him, and that is that
(05:45):
he lied to police in that statement. We've just started
to hear some elements of the second charge, which related
to his attendance at a Brisbane hospital where Sebastian Robinson
was recovering after the crash. But we really only just
got into the beginning of that charge yesterday afternoon before
(06:06):
the court concluded. So we'll hear more about that today
and about the third charge from the prosecution, and then
we'll hear from Matt Wright's defense barrister David Edwardson k C,
who will outline the defense's case. And then the first
person on the witness list if we get that far
today is mc burns and Matt.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Who else are we expecting to be called as witnesses? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Sebastin Robinson is expected to be called as a witness.
His mother, Nolan Chullingworth, is also expected to be called.
I think there are about twenty five witnesses in total
who have been listed to potentially give evidence in this case,
which is expected to run for about four weeks, but
I think we've already been going for nearly a week
(06:53):
and a half, most of that with legal arguments, so
they run a little bit longer than that.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Ye, And so what time does things kick off? This morning?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So ten o'clock we're underway, So what's that about? Forty minutes?
Forty minutes from the court at the moment, and we're
waiting for what's.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
It like, Matt. I mean, I asked you this last
week in terms of, you know, the volume of journalists
et cetera there, but also what's it like in the
courtroom at the moment. I mean, there's no doubt it's
probably absolutely packed in there.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh look at to not packed to the rafters. There's
there's a few people in there. There's Matt Wright has
some supporters here. Danny Wilson, who is Chris Wilson's widow,
has been here every day, I think so, And there's
quite a few there's quite a few journalists here. Channel
(07:44):
seven and Channel nine are both both find trees up
here from interstate. So you know, there is quite a
bit of interest around this case, as you would expect,
but you know, probably not as much as I've seen
in some other high profile trials, but that that might
change as we get closer to the pointy end of things.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well, and Matt has there been much reaction from Matt
Wright so far.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Not a lot, to be honest, He has not said
anything to the media. As he's come in and out
of court each day. He's been with his wife Kia
on each occasion and his legal team, so you know,
There's obviously been questions that have been fired off at him,
but he hasn't said anything at this stage. And the
only thing you've heard from you in the court really
(08:32):
was on the first day of the trial last week
when he entered those three not guilty please, when each
of the charges were read out against him.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, Matt Cunningham, no doubt, a busy time for you.
I am sure we're going to be talking regularly as
this case continues, and not really sure for how much longer,
but at this stage it's looking like four weeks.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, that's the idea, Katie, but who knows?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Who knows? Bat Cunningham, thank you very much for keeping
our listeners up to date and keeping the territory up
to date with what's going on. Good to catch up
with you. We'll talk to you again soon, no worries. Thanks,
thank you,
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