{"id":121182,"date":"2025-08-05T15:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121182\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:21:15","slug":"hand-in-hand-with-his-model-wife-the-outback-wrangler-heads-into-court-to-fight-for-his-freedom-as-glamour-and-glitz-descend-on-darwin-for-the-netflix-stars-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121182\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand in hand with his model wife, the Outback Wrangler heads into court to fight for his freedom – as glamour and glitz descend on Darwin for the Netflix star’s trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world’s attention is focusing on Darwin as celebrity croc catcher and Outback Wrangler host\u00a0Matt Wright<\/a>‘s criminal court case finally got underway on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Fourteen jurors were chosen from a huge jury pool of more than 400 people during the selection process at the Northern Territory Supreme Court<\/a> in Darwin.<\/p>\n

The large jury pool was required due to Wright’s popularity in the NT and the dozens of witnesses with close community ties expected to appear.<\/p>\n

Wright arrived at court in a crisp white shirt and wearing a rarely-seen tie, hand in hand with his model wife Kaia, accompanied by his legal team and a supporter\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial, which relates to the fatal helicopter crash that claimed the life of Wright’s Netflix<\/a> co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson during a 2022 crocodile egg-harvesting mission, is expected to last up to five weeks.<\/p>\n

Willow’s widow, Dani Wilson, arrived about 15 minutes before Wright and his party. She appeared calm and smiled at reporters as she entered, looking well-dressed\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Wilson gave a glance at Kaia as the pair sat at opposite ends of the row of seats in the courtroom after the wrangler’s wife shared a quiet giggle with another woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Matt <\/p>\n

Matt Wright arrives at court wearing a shirt and tie alongside his wife Kaia Wright<\/p>\n

\"Chris <\/p>\n

Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson’s wife Dani Wilson arrives at the NT Supreme Court at Darwin\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wright <\/p>\n

Wright posted videos of him and his family relaxing at Top End Safari Camp this weekend on Instagram just hours before his trial commenced<\/p>\n

The variety of characters and celebrities involved in the case is expected to attract further public interest as the trial progresses\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wright, 45, who pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice on Tuesday, seemed relaxed before the trial, posting happy videos of him and his family relaxing at Top End Safari Camp this weekend.<\/p>\n

It is understood Wright and his Kaia part-own the Bynoe adventure resort about 100km south-west of Darwin.<\/p>\n

Wright’s long weekend family outing came just as the father-of-two faced the court to answer charges relating to his alleged actions following the crash, between March and September 2022 in Darwin and other locations<\/p>\n

It is alleged Wright impeded the investigation in the months following the fatal crash, which killed Willow and left pilot Seb Robinson seriously injured and wheelchair-bound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Wright did not properly follow maintenance rules for his helicopters and attempted to conceal this after the crash.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to run into September, presided over by NT acting Justice Alan Blow, with dozens of witnesses to be called by Crown Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wright’s lead role in Outback Wrangler – before launching his Netflix and Channel Nine spin-off<\/a> – was believed to have earned him at least $250,000 per season.<\/p>\n

\"Wright's <\/p>\n

Wright’s Netflix co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson during a 2022 crocodile egg-harvesting mission<\/p>\n

\"Wright <\/p>\n

Wright arrives with his legal team<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

Mr Wilson was found dead after this helicopter crash<\/p>\n

Wild Croc Territory featured Wright as both the main star and executive producer, working alongside his agent, Nick Fordham,<\/a> further boosting his income.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the first season of the show, which co-starred Mr Wilson, was derailed by the crash that led to his death.<\/p>\n

Wright was not the pilot during the 28 February 2022 mission, in which Mr Wilson was suspended in a sling beneath a Robinson R44 helicopter.<\/p>\n

Three helicopters departed at 7.03am, with VH-IDW, carrying Wilson, last tracked at about 8.50am by GPS.<\/p>\n

At around 10.24am, with no communication from VH-IDW, the other two helicopter pilots began searching and soon located the crash site.<\/p>\n

They found Mr Wilson deceased on the sling line and the pilot critically injured.<\/p>\n

The helicopter had crashed in a paperbark swamp near King River, a remote part of West Arnhem Land, 500km east of Darwin.<\/p>\n

Mr Wilson, a father-of-two, had been suspended on a 30m sling picking eggs from crocodile nests and died after allegedly falling from a height greater than 5m.<\/p>\n

\"Dani <\/p>\n

Dani and Willow had two children together<\/p>\n

\"Wright <\/p>\n

Wright previously had endorsement deals with Ariat, Yokohama Tyres Australia and Otis Eyewear\u00a0<\/p>\n

Air safety regulations stipulate that such operations should only be conducted from a height not exceeding 5m, with helicopters flying at walking pace.<\/p>\n

Ms Wilson has launched legal action in the Federal Court against the wildlife catcher, whom she blames for her husband’s death.<\/p>\n

After the accident, Netflix continued to stream the first season of Wild Croc Territory despite a request from Ms Wilson to cease<\/a>, but a planned second season for 2023 has never aired.<\/p>\n

Wright previously had endorsement deals with Ariat, Yokohama Tyres Australia and Otis Eyewear. Tourism Australia also dropped him as a ‘Friends of Australia’ ambassador.<\/p>\n

With the empanelment process now complete, opening submissions from the Crown and Wright’s barrister, leading Adelaide counsel David Edwardson KC, are due to commence on Wednesday\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multiple witnesses, including police, experts and Mr Robinson, are due to give evidence in the trial, which acting Justice Blow said could last for five weeks.<\/p>\n

Wright’s chief helicopter pilot, Michael Keith Burbidge, is also expected to attend with his wife, Jade Burbidge, when he appears as a witness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Witnesses in the trial will include the pilots, as well as fellow TV crew members, major Top End business figures and crocodile egg collectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pilot <\/p>\n

Pilot Seb Robinson (left) was seriously injured in the crash which killed his mate Willow (right)<\/p>\n

Kaia Wright, a former model, has been a regular presence supporting her husband during the court process.<\/p>\n

Pilot Seb Robinson is expected to testify over several days, along with his mother, Noelene Chillingham<\/a>, and Darwin crocodile farm owner Mick Burns, who had contracted the chopper at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

Acting Justice Blow gave the jury a reminder to ignore media coverage of the case which he said had been ‘extensive’.<\/p>\n

The judge also instructed the jurors to ignore social media chatter regarding the case and not to discuss the trial with anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The celebrity croc trial is the second big Australian court case to demand the world’s attention following the marathon Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial which wrapped up last month.<\/p>\n

The 11-week trial drew intense coverage from media and true crime enthusiasts worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world’s attention is focusing on Darwin as celebrity croc catcher and Outback Wrangler host\u00a0Matt Wright‘s criminal court…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,211,75302,4659,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-121182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-matt-wright","11":"tag-netflix","12":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114976844315494943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}