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August 21, 2025 13 mins

The evidence tampering trial of an Australian reality TV star is currently underway in Darwin's Supreme Court. Matt Wright has been accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a 2022 helicopter crash that left his co-star dead. The hearings have so far uncovered serious allegations of cover-ups and  falsified records. Today, we'll break down everything you need to know about Matt Wright and this case.

Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Lucy Tassell
Producer: Orla Maher

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is this is the daily This is
the Daily OS.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to
the Daily Ours. It's Friday, the twenty second of August.
I'm Emma Gillespie.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Lucy Tassel.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The evidence tampering trial of an Aussie reality TV star
is currently underway in Darwin's Supreme Court. Matt Wright has
been accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice
following a twenty twenty two helicopter crash that left his
co star dead. The hearings have so far uncovered serious
allegations of cover ups and falsified records. So today we

(00:44):
are going to break down everything you need to know
about this case, right after a quick message from our sponsor.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Emma. Before we get into the details of this trial,
can you tell the listeners a bit about Matt Right.
I think I recognized his name, probably just from the headlines. Yeah,
But who is at the center of this and what
do we need to know about him? So?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Matt Wright is a forty five year old crocodile wrangler.
He rose to prominence through a couple of reality TV
series and he's described as having this larger than life
personality as you can kind of expect from anyone who
works with crocs on TV, and he became known for
his work relocating crocodiles across Australia's outback. That was basically

(01:30):
what was portrayed on this national geographic TV show called
Outback Wrangler. So that ran from twenty eleven to twenty twenty,
pretty long running series, and more recently he's also start
in a show called Wild croc Territory that's been picked
up by Netflix. But it should be noted that this
Netflix series premiered after the current legal proceedings against him

(01:51):
were launched.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
So then how did those proceedings begin? Because you mentioned
a fatal helicopter crash in your intro.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
YEP, So, as well as being this croc wrangling TV star,
Matt Wright is also a tourism operator. He'd been operating
multiple ventures in the Northern Territory, including a helicopter company
called helly Brook Now. On February twenty eight, twenty twenty two,
Wright's friend and co star his name was Chris Wilson
or Willow was his nickname. He was killed during a

(02:21):
crocodile egg collecting mission in West arnham Land on board
a helly Brook helicopter. So Wilson was suspended thirty meters
beneath the chopper and the craft crashed with him on it.
Wilson was discovered fatally wounded about forty meters from the
wreckage of the helicopter crash, and the pilot, a man

(02:43):
called Sebastian Robinson, was critically injured. He's actually now paraplegic
from that accident. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that
the helicopter likely crashed due to fuel exhaustion, so essentially
that it did not have enough petrol.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, was right on board this helicopter.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
No, so he actually wasn't on the chopper at the
time of the crash. He isn't accused of any matters
relating to the crash itself, but it was his company's
helicopter and it's really what Matt Wright did after this
incident that's in question in court now.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
So he hasn't been accused of causing the crash or
anything to do with it. Really, what are these legal
proceedings then?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yes, so the charges against Wright, as we've mentioned, don't
relate to the cause of the accident, and the prosecution
isn't alleging that he's responsible for either the crash or
Wilson's death, or even Robinson's injuries. Instead, though, prosecutors alleged
that Wright was worried that crash investigators would discover his
company was cutting corners, basically, that the crash would lead

(03:47):
to a bigger investigation that would uncover safety breaches. And
the prosecution's case is that tried to cover up these
alleged shortcuts and failures of the business Helli Brook after
the crash.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
So what has he specifically been charged with?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
So he's facing a few offenses, all relating to evidence tampering,
and trying to persuade witnesses. These alleged defenses occurred in
March and September twenty twenty two, so in the weeks
immediately after the crash and a couple of months later,
investigators claimed that Wright didn't properly record helicopter flying hours

(04:24):
across the business and was concerned that crash investigators were
going to find that out and that would potentially lead
to charges against him and his company. So specifically, prosecutors
alleged that Wright basically asked his team to torch maintenance records.
So he basically has been accused of lying about the

(04:45):
amount of fuel in the machines tank, that he tried
to get the injured pilot to manipulate flight records. The
prosecution really painting this picture of covering tracks of a
business that was not operating within the regular time expectations.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, so now it's at a trial. What have we
heard from the trial so far?

Speaker 2 (05:07):
So there's been this really prominent witness testimony from Sebastian
Robinson himself. So this is the pilot who survived the
crash but was left paraplegic, and he's been giving evidence
throughout the trial via video link from his wheelchair. Robinson
basically says he idolized Matt Wright. He had this high

(05:28):
profile boss and he really respected him, and Robinson has
kind of admitted to breaking aviation rules in order to
please him. Robinson told the court that if Wright said jump,
I'd say how high. When it came to following his instructions,
Robinson agreed that disconnecting flight hour recording meters and falsifying
paperwork to match that was a quote very common practice

(05:52):
at Hellybrook, and that that practice was at the direction
of Right that told the pilots to do stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah. Wow, that's pretty damning testimony. What else has he
said about the actions after the crash, given that that's
kind of like the center of this case.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, so Robinson, again the pilot, He testified that Wright
visited him in hospital about ten days after the crash
while he was heavily sedated, he was seriously injured, and
Wright allegedly asked him to manipulate flying our records and
to go through his phone and quote delete a few things.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Robinson told the court he was quote scared and panicked
at the time, and he told right, quote I didn't
feel comfortable doing it. But Right allegedly visited him in
hospital multiple times with these kinds of requests.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
That's a pretty powerful allegation. Obviously, there's always two sides
to a court case. What's the defense said about Wright's
actions during that time?

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yes, so the defense team has painted a very different
picture of Robinson the pilots. The lawyers of Matt Wright
claimed that this pilot was a coin using party animal.
To use their words, They suggest that he was the
kind of pilot that was constantly breaking aviation rules. Of
his own accord, including disconnecting meters falsifying records. There were

(07:13):
some text messages from Robinson's phone that were read out
in court showing that the defense argue he regularly used cocaine,
but Robinson denies ever flying any helicopter under the influence
of an illicit substance, So the defense is essentially arguing
that Robinson and his family have fabricated all these allegations

(07:33):
against Wright to protect Robinson for being blamed for the crash. Instead,
the defense have also put forward a witness one of
Wright's friends this week. His name is Ji Tomlinson. He's
been quizzed about the crash and writes actions in the
aftermath of it, and Tomlinson has either denied any suggestion
that Wright interfered with any documents or tried to cover

(07:56):
up evidence, or for questions he's been unable to or
provide detail on he has claimed memory issues have led
him to forget what happened. So he's kind of saying,
not sure about this or that because I have memory issues,
but the things I do remember show that Matt Wright
didn't do anything wrong.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Obviously, there's one person we can't hear from in this trial,
and that is the person who was killed. That's Chris Wilson.
What can you tell me about him?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
So, Chris Wilson was a thirty four year old father
of two, known as Willow to his friends. He was
a born and bred Territorian, a really experienced local. He
had worked in construction. He'd obviously worked with crocs and
he was also the managing director of the Northern Australia
Civil Company, so he worked in aviation and construction himself

(08:45):
as well as being this kind of wild croc man
that we see on TV. His wife Danielle, has been
present in court throughout the trials, so she's been sitting
on one side of the courtroom while right supporters and
his family have been watching from another and separately. This
is another interesting layer to this complicated case. Daniel Wilson,

(09:06):
the widow of the man who died in the crash,
is also suing Matt Wright and his company hell Brook,
as well as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in the
Federal Court over her husband's death. So there is separate
action going on about the actual crash itself.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, what other witnesses have we heard from?

Speaker 2 (09:26):
So a man called Mick Burns, who's been in the
crocodile egg collecting industry since the early two thousands. He
broke down on the stand talking about the fatal crash.
He was one of the first responders. He recalled rushing
to the scene discovering Wilson was dead. He actually escorted
Wilson's body back to Darwin and was one of the

(09:47):
people that broke the news to his family. The court
has heard from a former police officer, Neil Mellon, who
flew to the crash site with Matt Wright. All of
these witnesses are kind of there to help the jury
and the court pieced together those hours and weeks after
the crash. So much of this trial really depends on

(10:07):
this small window of time after the crash and you
know what went down, who was there, what was said,
and those really seem to be the puzzle pieces that
the prosecution is trying to put together through all these
witness testimonies.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Speaking of the prosecution, I don't know if you can
answer this, but this would be like the Crown is
what they would be representing. Yeah, so effectively representing the
people of Australia or kind of like the government in
a sense.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Ye the Northern Territory Crown.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So then what do we know about
the defense because they obviously are representing Matt Wright.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
So Right is represented by some pretty heavy hitters in
the legal world, it has to be said, and that
includes South Australian King's Council David Edwardson. He is the
lawyer who successfully defended former anti police officer Zachary Rolfe.
He was charged with murder over the death of Kumanjai Walker,

(11:03):
a First Nations man who died in police custody, and
those charges against rolf were dropped. So that was with
the Council or the legal representation of David Edwardson. Edwardson
told the jury in the case of Matt Wright, his
client that Right emphatically denies all allegations, and Edwardson warned
about the extraordinary amount of public interest in this case

(11:27):
and what that might mean for Right's right to a
fair trial. Edwardson said that there have been quote many
ill informed, if not scandalous opinions expressed in many different
forums from social media to commercial television. So the defense
strategy really appears to be about attacking the credibility of
key witnesses. Particularly the pilot and his family, as well

(11:49):
as questioning whether or not this is even a fair process.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah. Interesting. If he's found guilty, what is going to
happen to him?

Speaker 2 (11:57):
So the maximum sentence that Right is facing is fifteen
years behind bars. That's the maximum penalty for obstructing or
perverting the course of justice in the NT, So we're
talking about potentially very serious jail time, very hefty significant fines,
financial penalties if he is indeed found guilty.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah. Wow. How much longer is the trial expected to run?

Speaker 2 (12:19):
So it's been going for a few weeks now, two weeks. Actually,
it could run for another few weeks. In terms of
the schedule that we know about. We're still waiting to
hear from some members of the pilot's family who were
present during these alleged hospital visits where Right came and
allegedly tried to persuade him to delete files or to
cover up flight information, So they are expected to give

(12:41):
evidence in the next week. If the trial runs for
the full five weeks that it was scheduled to run,
the jury would be expected to deliver a verdict in
either late August or early September, So a few weeks
to go. But as far as I can tell, for now,
this case looks like it will really ultimately come down
to a question of credibility. Who the jury believes when
they hear these conflicting accounts of what happened in those

(13:04):
really crucial days after the accident.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah wow, thanks so much for explaining that, Emma, and
we will continue to follow this case closely as it unfolds.
That's all for today's deep Dive. Thank you so much
for joining us. We'll be back again this afternoon with
their headlines. Until then, have a great day. My name

(13:26):
is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Kalkadin
woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this
podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people
and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island
and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples
of these countries, both past and present.
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