Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. The Supreme Court trial of kroc wrangler Matt Wright
continues today, with more witnesses expected to take the stand.
Matt Cunningham from Sky News has been closely following the
trial and joins me on the line.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, Matt, Good morning Cadie.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Matt. Firstly, can you give us a bit of a
recap of what happened in court yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, most of the evidence we heard yesterday came from
Jock Purcell. He's someone who worked for Matt Wright for
more than six years as a crocodile leg collector and
as a pilot, and he was one of the people
who was on that mission on the twenty eighth of
February twenty twenty two when that helicopter crash killing Chris
Willow Wilson. So he was actually flying a different helicopter,
(00:42):
but he did arrive at the scene after that helicopter crash,
so he gave evidence about what happened at the scene.
He was asked by the prosecution about whether he had
looked into the cockpit under the dash in the cockpit,
and he said that he had, and that he looked
in there to check if the Hobbes meter was connected
(01:04):
of course, we've heard a lot of evidence throughout the
trial so far about this Hobbs meta, which records the
flying hours of the helicopter, and the practice a widespread
practice we've been told throughout the anti aviation industry of
that Hobbes meat have been disconnected at times so that
helicopters didn't have to go through expensive servicing and maintenance requirements.
(01:25):
So Joppasel also told the court that, you know, he
had engaged in and knew about the practice of disconnecting
and reconnecting this Hobbes met and of basically not recording
flying hours in what's known as the maintenance release of
the helicopter. So, just to recap the prosecution's cases, basically
that Matt Wright knew that the helicopter hadn't been properly
(01:49):
maintained and then set about covering up those tracks. It's
not about the crash itself or even about you know,
some of those practices relating to not properly recording the hours.
The charges against Matt Wright related to his actions after
the helicopter crash in allegedly trying to stop investigators finding
(02:10):
out exactly what happened. In relation to those issues, we
also heard in the afternoon under cross examination, he was
asked quite a bit about Sebastian Robinson, who is of
course the pilot who was flying the helicopter that day
and who suffered serious injuries in that crash is now
a paraplegic, and about his lifestyle. So he heard a
(02:32):
bit about the day before the crash, and he was
asked by David Edwardson about a crocodile egg collection collecting
mission that was supposed to take place the day before
the crash, on the twenty seventh of February, and according
to joh Percell's evidence, they were meant to leave in
the morning, but they didn't end up leaving until about
three point thirty that afternoon because Sebastin Robinson had been
(02:56):
in bed. He was then asked by David Edwardson, who
is Matt Wright's lawyer. He was asked about whether Sebastian
Robinson had a bit of a reputation as a party animal,
and he agreed that he did. And then he was
asked directly whether he was a frequent user of cocaine,
and Jock Purcell said yes, he did know that, although
(03:17):
when he was asked by the prosecution. He said that
there was only one occasion where he had seen Sebastian
Robinson actually using cocaine. So you know, that's sort of
a summary of his evidence from day went for most
of the days, obviously more different pieces that were explored.
Probably the other interesting bit that was covered yesterday was
(03:40):
about Jock Purcell going to Sebastian Robinson's home in the
days after the crash and collecting his log book. So
he went to the cottage where Sebastian Robinson lives in
lived in in Nucky Lagoon and collected his log book
from his home there. He was asked why he did that,
and he said that he didn't know. And he was
(04:01):
asked whether anyone had asked him to do that, and
he also said he didn't know, and then he said
the log book had later been collected from Jock Purcell's
home by Sebastian Robinson's brothers. Now, interestingly, today we're going
to hear if we should we were expecting to hear
from Sebastian Robinson himself. Katie thought it might be an
(04:23):
interesting of evidence in the screen court.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I reckon it certainly will be. Matt there did seem
to be a bit of chopping and changing of witnesses yesterday.
What was the guy there?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I look, it was just the fact that I think
more of a timing matter than anything. So Jock Purcell
gave his mostly of his evidence in chief in the
morning up until the lunch break, and then immediately after
the lunch break we heard from Matthew Walls, who was
the care flight employee. He was out of the scene
of the crash. And then after we'd heard his evidence,
(04:56):
we came back to Jock for herself that he's cross
examination by Matt Rivesley.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, right, and so obviously Sebastian Robinson up today. Do
we have much of an idea who else may be
expected to be heard from today or throughout this week.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Look, I think most of the evidence, most of today
will likely be taken up with Sebastian Robinson. I mean
he's going to be a key witness in his trial. Obviously.
The second so Matt Wright's facing those three charges of
attempting to put the course of justice. The second of
those three charges relates to allegations that Matt Wright went
to the Brisbane hospital where Sebastian Robinson was recovering after
(05:36):
the helicopter crash that he attended there on the eleventh
and burned of March twenty twenty two, and that while
he was there he tried to get Sebastian Robinson to
falsify the maintenance records of the helicopter involved in the crash. Now,
Matt right, of course, strenuously denies these allegations. He's pleaded
not guilty, but I would expect that we're going to
(05:56):
hear quite a bit more about that today.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, and match we know as well, you know that
there's been well it seems like there's been a number
of covertly recorded conversations as well by the Northern Territory Police.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, there have been, and one of those was played
to the court yesterday, and that was a conversation between
Matt Wright and Jock Purcell that was intercepted on the
tenth of August twenty twenty two. So we're talking about
five and a half months roughly after the crash, and
you hear them in that recorded conversation discussing one of
(06:32):
the Hobbs meter and then also, you know you hear
that right sort of saying to Jock Purcell sort of
questioning what Sebastian Romans and might have told investigators already
in relation to this crash. Now, Jock Purcell was asked
about that phone call when he was on the stand
and he said he just had no recollection or no
(06:53):
memory of it. He was pressed on that issue several
times by Jason glaciesc who's the Crown prosecutor, but Jock
Purcell was adamant that he couldn't remember the conversation. So
it was three years ago and he just had no
memory of it.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Well, Matt, no doubt going to be a really interesting
day today. Are we still expecting this case to go
for four to five weeks?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's the expectation at the moment. I mean we're I
mean we're officially into week three now, but effectively only
into week two because that first week was taken up
entirely by legal arguments. So one would suspect we've still
got a couple of weeks to go here, Katie. Yeah,
so I always expected, probably towards the end of the
(07:36):
month we might be getting towards the conclusion of this case.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah. Well, Matt Cunningham from Sky News really appreciate you
keeping us up to date with what's going on in
the Supreme Court trial of croc wrangler Matt Wright. Thank
you very much and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
No worries, Thanks Kate, thank you.
Now. The Supreme Court trial of kroc wrangler Matt Wright
continues today, with more witnesses expected to take the stand.
Matt Cunningham from Sky News has been closely following the
trial and joins me on the line.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, Matt, Good morning Cadie.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Matt. Firstly, can you give us a bit of a
recap of what happened in court yesterday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, most of the evidence we heard yesterday came from
Jock Purcell. He's someone who worked for Matt Wright for
more than six years as a crocodile leg collector and
as a pilot, and he was one of the people
who was on that mission on the twenty eighth of
February twenty twenty two when that helicopter crash killing Chris
Willow Wilson. So he was actually flying a different helicopter,
(00:42):
but he did arrive at the scene after that helicopter crash,
so he gave evidence about what happened at the scene.
He was asked by the prosecution about whether he had
looked into the cockpit under the dash in the cockpit,
and he said that he had, and that he looked
in there to check if the Hobbes meter was connected
(01:04):
of course, we've heard a lot of evidence throughout the
trial so far about this Hobbs meta, which records the
flying hours of the helicopter, and the practice a widespread
practice we've been told throughout the anti aviation industry of
that Hobbes meat have been disconnected at times so that
helicopters didn't have to go through expensive servicing and maintenance requirements.
(01:25):
So Joppasel also told the court that, you know, he
had engaged in and knew about the practice of disconnecting
and reconnecting this Hobbes met and of basically not recording
flying hours in what's known as the maintenance release of
the helicopter. So, just to recap the prosecution's cases, basically
that Matt Wright knew that the helicopter hadn't been properly
(01:49):
maintained and then set about covering up those tracks. It's
not about the crash itself or even about you know,
some of those practices relating to not properly recording the hours.
The charges against Matt Wright related to his actions after
the helicopter crash in allegedly trying to stop investigators finding
(02:10):
out exactly what happened. In relation to those issues, we
also heard in the afternoon under cross examination, he was
asked quite a bit about Sebastian Robinson, who is of
course the pilot who was flying the helicopter that day
and who suffered serious injuries in that crash is now
a paraplegic, and about his lifestyle. So he heard a
(02:32):
bit about the day before the crash, and he was
asked by David Edwardson about a crocodile egg collection collecting
mission that was supposed to take place the day before
the crash, on the twenty seventh of February, and according
to joh Percell's evidence, they were meant to leave in
the morning, but they didn't end up leaving until about
three point thirty that afternoon because Sebastin Robinson had been
(02:56):
in bed. He was then asked by David Edwardson, who
is Matt Wright's lawyer. He was asked about whether Sebastian
Robinson had a bit of a reputation as a party animal,
and he agreed that he did. And then he was
asked directly whether he was a frequent user of cocaine,
and Jock Purcell said yes, he did know that, although
(03:17):
when he was asked by the prosecution. He said that
there was only one occasion where he had seen Sebastian
Robinson actually using cocaine. So you know, that's sort of
a summary of his evidence from day went for most
of the days, obviously more different pieces that were explored.
Probably the other interesting bit that was covered yesterday was
(03:40):
about Jock Purcell going to Sebastian Robinson's home in the
days after the crash and collecting his log book. So
he went to the cottage where Sebastian Robinson lives in
lived in in Nucky Lagoon and collected his log book
from his home there. He was asked why he did that,
and he said that he didn't know. And he was
(04:01):
asked whether anyone had asked him to do that, and
he also said he didn't know, and then he said
the log book had later been collected from Jock Purcell's
home by Sebastian Robinson's brothers. Now, interestingly, today we're going
to hear if we should we were expecting to hear
from Sebastian Robinson himself. Katie thought it might be an
(04:23):
interesting of evidence in the screen court.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I reckon it certainly will be. Matt there did seem
to be a bit of chopping and changing of witnesses yesterday.
What was the guy there?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I look, it was just the fact that I think
more of a timing matter than anything. So Jock Purcell
gave his mostly of his evidence in chief in the
morning up until the lunch break, and then immediately after
the lunch break we heard from Matthew Walls, who was
the care flight employee. He was out of the scene
of the crash. And then after we'd heard his evidence,
(04:56):
we came back to Jock for herself that he's cross
examination by Matt Rivesley.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, right, and so obviously Sebastian Robinson up today. Do
we have much of an idea who else may be
expected to be heard from today or throughout this week.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Look, I think most of the evidence, most of today
will likely be taken up with Sebastian Robinson. I mean
he's going to be a key witness in his trial. Obviously.
The second so Matt Wright's facing those three charges of
attempting to put the course of justice. The second of
those three charges relates to allegations that Matt Wright went
to the Brisbane hospital where Sebastian Robinson was recovering after
(05:36):
the helicopter crash that he attended there on the eleventh
and burned of March twenty twenty two, and that while
he was there he tried to get Sebastian Robinson to
falsify the maintenance records of the helicopter involved in the crash. Now,
Matt right, of course, strenuously denies these allegations. He's pleaded
not guilty, but I would expect that we're going to
(05:56):
hear quite a bit more about that today.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, and match we know as well, you know that
there's been well it seems like there's been a number
of covertly recorded conversations as well by the Northern Territory Police.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, there have been, and one of those was played
to the court yesterday, and that was a conversation between
Matt Wright and Jock Purcell that was intercepted on the
tenth of August twenty twenty two. So we're talking about
five and a half months roughly after the crash, and
you hear them in that recorded conversation discussing one of
(06:32):
the Hobbs meter and then also, you know you hear
that right sort of saying to Jock Purcell sort of
questioning what Sebastian Romans and might have told investigators already
in relation to this crash. Now, Jock Purcell was asked
about that phone call when he was on the stand
and he said he just had no recollection or no
(06:53):
memory of it. He was pressed on that issue several
times by Jason glaciesc who's the Crown prosecutor, but Jock
Purcell was adamant that he couldn't remember the conversation. So
it was three years ago and he just had no
memory of it.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Well, Matt, no doubt going to be a really interesting
day today. Are we still expecting this case to go
for four to five weeks?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's the expectation at the moment. I mean we're I
mean we're officially into week three now, but effectively only
into week two because that first week was taken up
entirely by legal arguments. So one would suspect we've still
got a couple of weeks to go here, Katie. Yeah,
so I always expected, probably towards the end of the
(07:36):
month we might be getting towards the conclusion of this case.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah. Well, Matt Cunningham from Sky News really appreciate you
keeping us up to date with what's going on in
the Supreme Court trial of croc wrangler Matt Wright. Thank
you very much and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
No worries, Thanks Kate, thank you.
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