1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 3:05am<\/p>\n
Lunch break<\/p>\n
The court has now broken for lunch and we’ll be back with more live coverage from 2pm ACST when crocodile farmer Mick Burns<\/b> will continue giving evidence.<\/p>\n
1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 3:03am<\/p>\n
Mick Burns fights back tears recalling crash scene<\/p>\n
Crocodile farmer Mick Burns<\/b> has fought back tears while telling the jury how he flew to the scene of Chris Wilson’s<\/b> death.<\/p>\n
Mr Burns<\/b> says he called Matt Wright<\/b> to ask to be taken to the crash site after learning of the accident that morning.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to go out there and I asked to get a helicopter available, he said ‘yes’,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Burns<\/b> says Mr Wright<\/b> flew him to the scene along with police officer Neil Mellon<\/b> where he approached Mr Wilson’s<\/b> body and stayed with him for some time.<\/p>\n
Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC<\/b>, Mr Burns<\/b> said he didn’t see anyone go near the downed aircraft’s cockpit.<\/p>\n
He says he did see helicopter pilot Michael Burbidge<\/b> look in its fuel tank and asked him if there “was any fuel”, to which he replied “yes”.<\/p>\n
But he says he did not see Mr Wright<\/b> look in the tank and did not remember hearing any discussion about the helicopter’s Hobbs meter.<\/p>\n
“I remember that somebody gave me Sebastian Robinson’s<\/b> phone but I can’t remember who that was,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Burns<\/b> said he accompanied Mr Wilson’s<\/b> body back to Darwin <\/b>on a CareFlight<\/b> helicopter and spoke to his parents before going to the hospital with Mr Robinson’s<\/b> phone.<\/p>\n
“I gave it to his mother, at the hospital, Darwin hospital, it was that night,” he said.<\/p>\n
1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 2:42am<\/p>\n
Croc farmer learns there’s been an accident with one of his crews<\/p>\n
Crocodile farmer Mick Burns<\/b> has told the court he woke up in Melbourne <\/b>on the morning of the fatal helicopter crash and caught a flight back to Darwin<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Mr Burns<\/b>\u00a0said he had contracted the three helicopters that left on the egg collecting trip that day, including IDW piloted by Sebastian Robinson<\/b> with Christopher Wilson<\/b> on board and owned by Matt Wright<\/b>.<\/p>\n
He says while he was on the plane he started getting messages and missed calls.<\/p>\n
“The first one was just a set of GPS coordinates, which I didn’t think anything of,” he said.<\/p>\n
Then Mr Burns<\/b> said he got a message from one of his employees saying “something to the effect that there’d been an accident and he was calling CareFlight<\/b>“.<\/p>\n
“I think I responded that I’m on a plane and I’ll call when I can,” he said.<\/p>\n
1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 2:31am<\/p>\n
Opening addresses conclude as first witness called<\/p>\n
Defence barrister David Edwardson KC<\/b> has now finished his opening address to the jury, with crocodile farmer Mick Burns<\/b> due to take the stand.<\/p>\n
Mr Burns<\/b> will give evidence about his involvement in the Northern Territory’s crocodile industry over many years.<\/p>\n
1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 2:23amJurors urged to ignore ‘extraordinary’ public interest, ‘scandalous’ opinion<\/p>\n
Defence barrister David Edwardson KC<\/b> has reminded the jury Matt Wright<\/b> is not on trial for breaching any aviation rules and is not accused of having anything to do with the cause of the crash.<\/p>\n
Mr Edwardson<\/b> offered a “word of warning” that jurors “must confine your task to what you hear in this courtroom and nothing else”.<\/p>\n “There has been an extraordinary amount of public interest in this case and this helicopter crash generally,” he said.<\/p>\n “There have been many ill-informed or scandalous opinions expressed in many different forums, from social media to commercial television.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mr Edwardson<\/b> said it was “very important” jurors “keep an open mind” and “must not prejudge Mr Wright<\/b>“.<\/p>\n “Please remember there are two sides to every coin and it’s absolutely critical that you not rush to any judgement,” he said.<\/p>\n 1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 2:16am<\/p>\n Secret recording ‘extremely poor’<\/p>\n Defence barrister David Edwardson KC<\/b> says Matt Wright<\/b> “emphatically denies” the motive suggested by the prosecution for the alleged cover-up \u2014 that he was trying to avoid scrutiny of the crashed helicopter.<\/p>\n He says there is “no contest” that Mr Wright<\/b> presented the original maintenance release (MR) form logging the aircraft’s flight hours to ATSB<\/b>\u00a0(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)\u00a0<\/b>investigators.<\/p>\n He said the original MR was photographed by ATSB<\/b> investigators at the time and Mr Wright’s<\/b> wife, Kaia Wright<\/b>, also uploaded a scanned copy to NT Police<\/b>.<\/p>\n “So on two separate occasions, one physically present and secondly, uploading what is said and accepted to be the original MR for IDW,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Edwardson<\/b> said Mr Wright’s<\/b> third charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice was “based entirely on the prosecution’s interpretation or construction of recorded conversations in the early hours of the morning”.<\/p>\n “It will be for you to assess this recording when played, for that is the evidence that underpins that count,” he said.<\/p>\n “As my learned friend has just properly agreed, the recording, as you will hear, is extremely poor.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 2:08amPilot’s credibility ‘seriously in issue’<\/p>\n Defence barrister David Edwardson KC<\/b> has told the jury his client Matt Wright<\/b> “emphatically denies” the prosecution’s allegations and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.<\/p>\n “Members of the jury, by his pleas of not guilty to all three counts, Matt Wright<\/b> denies that he did any such thing,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Edwardson<\/b> said the Crown relied on recordings made between six and nine months after the event, “in an attempt to make good the alleged” lie Mr Wright<\/strong> told police about the amount of fuel in the crashed helicopter’s tank.<\/p>\n He says conversations between Mr Wright<\/b> and pilot Sebastian Robinson<\/b> would also be in dispute.<\/p>\n “The credibility of Sebastian Robinson<\/b> and his extended family is seriously in issue,” he said.<\/p>\n “Their [evidence] will be critical to your consideration of this count and will require you to conduct very, very close scrutiny of those witnesses.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 1:52am<\/p>\n Defence to take stand after morning tea<\/p>\n The prosecution has now finished its opening.<\/p>\n Defence barrister David Edwardson KC<\/b> will address the jury after a short morning break.<\/p>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 1:51amThe ‘critical passage’ from the secret recordings<\/p>\n Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC<\/b> has now taken jurors to what he says “will be the critical passage” from the secret recordings.<\/p>\n “What the prosecution say you can hear is that when the audio resumes Mr Wright<\/b> can be heard saying this:<\/p>\n ‘Just torch it, I don’t know where it is but I’m thinking it’s either there, I’ve got to send it to CASA (<\/b>Civil Aviation Safety Authority)\u00a0<\/b>or the ATSB <\/b>(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)<\/b>‘.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n “The prosecution case is that what’s being referred to there are the requests that have been made by CASA<\/b> and the ATSB<\/b> for the original [maintenance release] for IDW,” Mr Gullaci<\/b> said.<\/p>\n Mr Gullaci<\/b> says Mr Wright<\/b> is then heard saying “I reckon CASA<\/b> are chasing the original to set us up, I don’t remember signing it”.<\/p>\n “And Mr Wright<\/b> then says ‘just burn the c***,” he said.<\/p>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 1:32amWho is Matt Wright?<\/p>\n While the prosecution continues its opening statement in the NT’s Supreme Court<\/b>, let’s brush up on Matt Wright’s<\/b> background.<\/p>\n Mr Wright <\/b>first rose to fame on National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler<\/b> \u2014 a TV program about the wild world of crocodile wrangling in the Northern Territory and a glimpse into Mr Wright’s<\/b> family life.<\/p>\n A second program starring Mr Wright, Wild Croc Territory<\/b>, aired on Netflix in 2022.<\/p>\n The 45-year-old father-of-two is also behind NT adventure tourism company Wild Territory<\/b>, which offers helicopter rides, airboat tours and accommodation.<\/p>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 1:32am’Lawyer up boys’ … ‘they will start squealing’<\/p>\n Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC<\/b>\u00a0has taken jurors through transcripts of secret recordings from Matt Wright’s home while the Civil Aviation Safety Authority<\/b> and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau<\/b> were seeking an original copy of the crashed helicopter’s (callsign IDW) maintenance release form.<\/p>\n “We say that what is being discussed is the destruction of the original maintenance release from IDW so the authorities can’t get it,” he said.<\/p>\n “[Mr Wright’s<\/b> friend] then says, according to the prosecution case, ‘Whatever, boys, lawyer up boys, how were you meant to know Matty? How the f*** are you meant to know? You don’t know’.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mr Gullaci<\/b> says Mr Wright<\/b> is then recorded saying “now everyone, f***ing, now they are starting to put the pressure on everyone, you know, they will start squealing”.<\/p>\n “The prosecution says they’re talking about the investigation,” Mr Gullaci said.<\/p>\n 2h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 1:11amPutting ‘the hard word’ on the injured pilot<\/p>\n Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC<\/b> is going through the lead up to the day the prosecution says Matt Wright<\/b> visited pilot Sebastian Robinson<\/b> at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in March 2022.<\/p>\n Mr Gullaci<\/b> says Mr Wright<\/b> went there to put “the hard word” on Mr Robinson<\/b> to doctor the flight hours recorded for the helicopter involved in the fatal crash.<\/p>\n Mr Gullaci <\/b>says Mr Wright<\/b> delivered documents to Mr Robinson<\/b> pressuring him to transfer flight hours from the crashed helicopter to one of Mr Robinson’s <\/b>choppers.<\/p>\n He says Mr Wright<\/b> then turned up at the hospital and asked him directly to doctor the figures “because of the concern he had about the fact that this would be uncovered”.<\/p>\n He said while “there were plenty of people who were doing this under-recording” in the NT, the prosecution case was “about the allegation the prosecution makes of then doubling down on that and trying to hide it”.<\/p>\n 3h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 12:58am<\/p>\n A quick re-cap of yesterday<\/p>\n The trial kicked off yesterday with the prosecution’s opening statement.<\/p>\n Jason Gullaci SC<\/b> told the jury the fatal 2022 chopper crash was not the subject of Matt Wright’s<\/b> charges.<\/p>\n The crash killed Mr Wright’s<\/b> close friend and co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson<\/b>, and seriously injured pilot Sebastian Robinson.<\/b><\/p>\n Instead, the charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice <\/b>relate to alleged events following the crash.<\/p>\n Yesterday the prosecution argued Mr Wright<\/b>:<\/p>\n The prosecution is continuing its opening argument today.<\/p>\n 3h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 12:35am<\/p>\n Court resumes<\/p>\n Welcome back to our live coverage of Matt Wright’s<\/b> Supreme Court trial. ABC court reporter Jason Walls back with you.<\/p>\n Yesterday,\u00a0Mr Wright<\/b> repeated his pleas of not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC<\/b> began his opening address.<\/p>\n He will likely finish by lunchtime today before defence barrister David Edwardson KC <\/b>takes over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1h agoThu 7 Aug 2025 at 3:05am Lunch break The court has now broken for lunch and we’ll…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":125373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,77091,77094,4903,8140,34161,13155,75302,77092,50,13264,77093,278,12433],"class_list":{"0":"post-125372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-celebrity-crocodile-wrangler","10":"tag-chopper","11":"tag-crash","12":"tag-criminal","13":"tag-helicopter","14":"tag-jury","15":"tag-matt-wright","16":"tag-netflix-star","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-northern-territory","19":"tag-perverting-the-course-of-justice","20":"tag-supreme-court","21":"tag-trial"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114985524949786889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125372","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=125372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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(Supplied: National Geographic, Outback Wrangler)<\/p>\n\n
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