Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we learned late on Friday that Kroc wrangler Matt
Wright has been found guilty on two charges of interfering
with a fatal chopper crash investigation. Now was standing trial
in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on three counts of
perverting the course of justice over his actions in the
aftermath of the crash that killed Chris Willow Wilson back
(00:21):
in twenty twenty two. Now, on Friday, the jury found
Right guilty of lying to police about the amount of
fuel in the crash chopper and asking injured pilot Sebastian
Robinson to falsify flight records. The jury was deadlocked on
the third charge, relating to destroying a chopper the chopper's
maintenance record, and was discharged. Now, joining us on the
(00:42):
line is somebody who has been in that courtroom every
single day. ABC News journalist Olivana Luthurus, Good morning to you, Ollie.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Great to have you on the show. Now, Ollie, how
long did it take the jury to reach the verdict
on Friday, Well, really.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Quick, Katie, it was a few hours. On the Thursday afternoon.
The jury was sent to deliberate on Thursday afternoon, and
we had about three hours or so of deliberations and
then they asked to be sent home, and then everyone
was rushed back here at nine am on Friday morning.
And after just three hours in the morning on Friday,
they told the judge that they had finished deliberating on
(01:22):
those first two counts that you mentioned, and that they
were stuck in this hopeless deadlock on the third count.
So all in all, it was about six hours of
deliberating before the judge basically decided to accept the verdict
on one and two and then to discharge the jury.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And what was the reaction in the courtroom when that
verdict was actually delivered.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It was I mean, you know, there's so much tension
that bills around waiting for a verdict like that to
be handed down, you know, to be honest, everyone was
very restrained. You know, there was you know, family members
there from you know, Sebastian Robinson, the pilot, Daniel Wilson,
the wife of Chris Wilson was in the room of course,
(02:03):
a large contingent of Matt's family as well, and there
was sort of a moment of a sort of shock
when the verdict was handed down. But everyone was very
you know, really held their emotions quite close to their
chest until you know, afterward when they left the court
room and then spoke out the front of court.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, well we heard from obviously, we heard from Sebastian
Robinson's brother, We heard from Danny Wilson, and also heard
from Matt Right. Talk us through some of what was
said outside of.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Court, Yeah, or there was plenty of family members who
sort of gave these very emotional statements out the front
of court. Danielle Wilson I spoke about sort of, you know,
being relieved in a sense that this chapter has come
to a close, but of course, you know, she is
still having to live with, you know, the pain of
(02:53):
losing her husband and the father of her two kids.
You know. Sebastian Robinson. His brother Zack Chellingworth read a
statement on his behalf out the front of the courtroom
and also just talked about, you know, what a painful
process this court proceeding has been, as did Matt Wright.
(03:15):
He gave a few very brief comments on his way
out of court. He said that he was disappointed with
the result. He confirmed that he is going to be
pursuing an appeal, and he also just said this whole
you know, saga has been painful for everybody involved in it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So, Ollie, in terms of that third charge, can you like,
what's going to happen now with that charge? Does it
sort of get thrown out? Does the prosecution have to
have a think about what they're going to sort of
do next.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, there are probably a few options in terms of
what happens with that third charge. You know, there's a
possibility it could be brought back, or it could just
sort of be essentially just dismissed. You know, it may
not go anywhere, but there's not really any clarity on
where that's going to happen for now. And of course
the jury has been discharged, so you know, it's not
(04:03):
as though we're still waiting to sort of have a
verdict on it. Yes, Yeah, a bit of a wait
and see.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now in terms of you touched on this a moment
ago that Matt Writ's obviously indicated that he's going to
appeal the decision. When does that matter return to court
and when are we sort of expecting him to be sentenced?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah? So this is all you know, it's the creaking
wheels of justing Katie. It's all takes a very long time.
But Madam will be back in court in October. You know,
we could be hearing sentencing submissions at that time. And then,
of course it'll be some time before a sentence is
handed down, possibly quite a few weeks, if not even
a few months potentially before we hear about that. And
(04:42):
that's obviously on counts one and two. And then in
terms of an appeal, you know, how long is a
piece of sturing that could take, you know, quite a
bit of time for an appeal to get processed through
the courts. But yeah, I hope you know, we're looking
at sentencing probably in the next couple of weeks or months.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And Ollie, I understand that there there was some discussion
about whether a custodial sentence will be served or you know,
what happens next. I guess a bit like not knowing
you know, when it's how long the appeal is going
to take. Nobody really knows what sentence is going to
be delivered, but all eyes will be on that decision.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Absolutely. Yeah. The prosecution were, you know, fairly firm about
their intentions to be pushing for a term of imprisonment.
You know, here's Matt wright's been on bail throughout these proceedings,
coming and going from the courtroom every day, and as
soon as that verdict was handed down, the prosecution oppose
bail even at that early stage, so it's clear that
(05:36):
their intention is to push for that, you know, for
that sort of a penalty, but of course that what
he actually ends up having to serve remains to be seen.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Lollie, we'll all keep a very close eye on it.
You've done a tremendous job over the last few weeks,
and you've also been part of this of the podcast,
The Case of the Croc Wrangler. Can people still listen
to that if they want to hear some of the
behind the scenes info that they might have missed over
recent weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, thanks Katie. Definitely. It's available on all of the
ABC Listen app and everywhere you get your podcasts, and
it sort of goes through a bit of the nitty
gritty of this whole this whole case, and we've got
new episodes coming out about you know what the jury
didn't hear, answering some answering, some more questions. It's been
a very complex trial, so plenty to sort of unpack.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, has I mean, has there been quite a bit
that the jury didn't hear, Ollie?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I mean, there always is, Katie. You know, these trials,
you can really only talk about what is happening in
front of a jury. But you know, as many Territorians
will know, this is a story that stretches far beyond
what happened in the courtroom over the last few weeks.
This has been something that's been unfolding for years. So
there's so much to be able to talk about and
(06:50):
unpick with it. So yeah, certainly, certainly plenty more to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, oli Anna Luthurus, ABC News Journalists really appreciate your
time this morning. Thanks so much for joining us on
the show.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Katie, thank
you
Well, we learned late on Friday that Kroc wrangler Matt
Wright has been found guilty on two charges of interfering
with a fatal chopper crash investigation. Now was standing trial
in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on three counts of
perverting the course of justice over his actions in the
aftermath of the crash that killed Chris Willow Wilson back
(00:21):
in twenty twenty two. Now, on Friday, the jury found
Right guilty of lying to police about the amount of
fuel in the crash chopper and asking injured pilot Sebastian
Robinson to falsify flight records. The jury was deadlocked on
the third charge, relating to destroying a chopper the chopper's
maintenance record, and was discharged. Now, joining us on the
(00:42):
line is somebody who has been in that courtroom every
single day. ABC News journalist Olivana Luthurus, Good morning to you, Ollie.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Great to have you on the show. Now, Ollie, how
long did it take the jury to reach the verdict
on Friday, Well, really.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Quick, Katie, it was a few hours. On the Thursday afternoon.
The jury was sent to deliberate on Thursday afternoon, and
we had about three hours or so of deliberations and
then they asked to be sent home, and then everyone
was rushed back here at nine am on Friday morning.
And after just three hours in the morning on Friday,
they told the judge that they had finished deliberating on
(01:22):
those first two counts that you mentioned, and that they
were stuck in this hopeless deadlock on the third count.
So all in all, it was about six hours of
deliberating before the judge basically decided to accept the verdict
on one and two and then to discharge the jury.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And what was the reaction in the courtroom when that
verdict was actually delivered.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It was I mean, you know, there's so much tension
that bills around waiting for a verdict like that to
be handed down, you know, to be honest, everyone was
very restrained. You know, there was you know, family members
there from you know, Sebastian Robinson, the pilot, Daniel Wilson,
the wife of Chris Wilson was in the room of course,
(02:03):
a large contingent of Matt's family as well, and there
was sort of a moment of a sort of shock
when the verdict was handed down. But everyone was very
you know, really held their emotions quite close to their
chest until you know, afterward when they left the court
room and then spoke out the front of court.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, well we heard from obviously, we heard from Sebastian
Robinson's brother, We heard from Danny Wilson, and also heard
from Matt Right. Talk us through some of what was
said outside of.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Court, Yeah, or there was plenty of family members who
sort of gave these very emotional statements out the front
of court. Danielle Wilson I spoke about sort of, you know,
being relieved in a sense that this chapter has come
to a close, but of course, you know, she is
still having to live with, you know, the pain of
(02:53):
losing her husband and the father of her two kids.
You know. Sebastian Robinson. His brother Zack Chellingworth read a
statement on his behalf out the front of the courtroom
and also just talked about, you know, what a painful
process this court proceeding has been, as did Matt Wright.
(03:15):
He gave a few very brief comments on his way
out of court. He said that he was disappointed with
the result. He confirmed that he is going to be
pursuing an appeal, and he also just said this whole
you know, saga has been painful for everybody involved in it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So, Ollie, in terms of that third charge, can you like,
what's going to happen now with that charge? Does it
sort of get thrown out? Does the prosecution have to
have a think about what they're going to sort of
do next.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, there are probably a few options in terms of
what happens with that third charge. You know, there's a
possibility it could be brought back, or it could just
sort of be essentially just dismissed. You know, it may
not go anywhere, but there's not really any clarity on
where that's going to happen for now. And of course
the jury has been discharged, so you know, it's not
(04:03):
as though we're still waiting to sort of have a
verdict on it. Yes, Yeah, a bit of a wait
and see.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now in terms of you touched on this a moment
ago that Matt Writ's obviously indicated that he's going to
appeal the decision. When does that matter return to court
and when are we sort of expecting him to be sentenced?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah? So this is all you know, it's the creaking
wheels of justing Katie. It's all takes a very long time.
But Madam will be back in court in October. You know,
we could be hearing sentencing submissions at that time. And then,
of course it'll be some time before a sentence is
handed down, possibly quite a few weeks, if not even
a few months potentially before we hear about that. And
(04:42):
that's obviously on counts one and two. And then in
terms of an appeal, you know, how long is a
piece of sturing that could take, you know, quite a
bit of time for an appeal to get processed through
the courts. But yeah, I hope you know, we're looking
at sentencing probably in the next couple of weeks or months.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And Ollie, I understand that there there was some discussion
about whether a custodial sentence will be served or you know,
what happens next. I guess a bit like not knowing
you know, when it's how long the appeal is going
to take. Nobody really knows what sentence is going to
be delivered, but all eyes will be on that decision.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Absolutely. Yeah. The prosecution were, you know, fairly firm about
their intentions to be pushing for a term of imprisonment.
You know, here's Matt wright's been on bail throughout these proceedings,
coming and going from the courtroom every day, and as
soon as that verdict was handed down, the prosecution oppose
bail even at that early stage, so it's clear that
(05:36):
their intention is to push for that, you know, for
that sort of a penalty, but of course that what
he actually ends up having to serve remains to be seen.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Lollie, we'll all keep a very close eye on it.
You've done a tremendous job over the last few weeks,
and you've also been part of this of the podcast,
The Case of the Croc Wrangler. Can people still listen
to that if they want to hear some of the
behind the scenes info that they might have missed over
recent weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, thanks Katie. Definitely. It's available on all of the
ABC Listen app and everywhere you get your podcasts, and
it sort of goes through a bit of the nitty
gritty of this whole this whole case, and we've got
new episodes coming out about you know what the jury
didn't hear, answering some answering, some more questions. It's been
a very complex trial, so plenty to sort of unpack.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, has I mean, has there been quite a bit
that the jury didn't hear, Ollie?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I mean, there always is, Katie. You know, these trials,
you can really only talk about what is happening in
front of a jury. But you know, as many Territorians
will know, this is a story that stretches far beyond
what happened in the courtroom over the last few weeks.
This has been something that's been unfolding for years. So
there's so much to be able to talk about and
(06:50):
unpick with it. So yeah, certainly, certainly plenty more to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, oli Anna Luthurus, ABC News Journalists really appreciate your
time this morning. Thanks so much for joining us on
the show.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Katie, thank
you
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