{"id":442159,"date":"2025-12-12T10:20:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442159\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:20:35","slug":"celebrity-crocodile-wrangler-matt-wright-sentenced-to-10-months-in-prison-suspended-after-five-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442159\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended after five months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended after five months, for attempting to interfere with an investigation into a fatal helicopter accident three years ago.<\/p>\n

Wright was convicted on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice<\/a> in August following a month-long Northern Territory Supreme Court trial.<\/p>\n

The charges relate to attempts by Wright to obstruct an investigation into a fatal chopper crash in remote Arnhem Land in 2022, which killed his friend and co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson and seriously injured pilot Sebastian Robinson.<\/p>\n

Wright was not alleged to be responsible for causing the crash itself.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Wright’s supporters, including his wife Kaia Wright and lawyer Luke Officer, leaving court after his sentencing. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Count one relates to a lie Wright told police during a recorded interview four days after the accident about how much fuel he thought the chopper had left.<\/p>\n

Count two relates to a visit Wright made to the critically injured pilot where he asked him to falsify helicopter records.<\/p>\n

Wright has been on bail and unable to leave the NT since the verdict.<\/p>\n

He did not react when the sentence was handed down, and despite a packed gallery, there was virtual silence in the court room.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crown prosecutors Kate Thomas and Jason Gullaci SC led the prosecution against Matt Wright. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

In his sentencing remarks, Acting Justice Alan Blow said Wright was aware that his pilots under-recorded flying hours.<\/p>\n

He also found it was “highly likely” the crashed helicopter had exceeded the maximum number of flying hours before requiring a complete maintenance overhaul.<\/p>\n

“It is highly likely that on 28 February, [the crashed helicopter] VH-IDW had exceed 2,200 hours’ total time in service and should not have been flying,” Justice Blow said.<\/p>\n

“You had reason to fear that a thorough investigation would reveal that the 2,200 hours limit had been exceeded.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Barrister David Edwardson KC represented Matt Wright.\u00a0 (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Regarding count one, Acting Justice Blow found Wright’s “primary motive” for lying to police in the recorded interview after the crash was to “protect” the chopper pilot from being prosecuted over the accident.<\/p>\n

Matt Wright guilty on two counts of hindering chopper crash investigation<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Wright has been found guilty on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.<\/p>\n

“In my view, protecting Mr Robinson was your primary motive for twice telling police there was fuel in the tank,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You lied to protect a mate \u2026 your lies were spontaneous and unplanned.”<\/p>\n

The judge also said he was “satisfied on the balance of probabilities” that the crashed chopper did not run out of fuel, accepting an argument pressed by the prosecution during the trial.<\/p>\n

“In my view, although your answers to police about the state of fuel were dishonest, they were consistent with the truth,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I believe the true situation was there was fuel in the tank when the engine stopped.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Wright has been sentenced to time behind bars for attempting to pervert the course of justice. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

The judge said count two was a “much more serious charge”.<\/p>\n

“That was a serious attempt to pervert the course of justice, or at least a more serious one that count one,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You asked [Mr Robinson] to falsify recorded flight hours in his maintenance release to show [Mr Robinson’s helicopter] ZXZ had flown flights in fact flown by IDW.”<\/p>\n

“You had the callousness to make and pursue this request when Mr Robinson had recently come out of a coma and had just learned he may never walk again.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Family and friends of pilot Sebastian Robinson, who was seriously injured in the chopper crash, were in court for Matt Wright’s sentencing.\u00a0 (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

“It was the worst possible time to put any pressure on him \u2014 he was heavily medicated and very vulnerable.”<\/p>\n

The judge acknowledged Wright had been the subject of “unfair” scrutiny through the media and online and said his reputation has suffered “more than it should”.<\/p>\n

In sentencing the 46-year-old, Acting Justice Blow also acknowledged the need for community deterrence, and said while Wright had shown “no remorse”, it was unlikely he would reoffend.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Corey Borton was a lead investigator on the case for the NT police force. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

On count one, Acting Justice Blow ordered Wright to pay a $5,000 fine.<\/p>\n

On count two, he imposed a term of imprisonment for 10 months, suspended after five, saying the second charge was a more serious attempt to pervert the course of justice.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Wright’s defence lawyer David Edwardson KC did not answer any questions from the media.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Edwardson KC did not answer questions outside of court. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

This morning, the Netflix star arrived at court stony-faced and surrounded by supporters, including his wife, Kaia Wright, and his legal team.<\/p>\n

There was barely an empty seat in the court room during the proceedings, with a large contingent of family members and friends of pilot Sebastian Robinson, who survived the 2022 crash, also present.<\/p>\n

Mr Wilson’s widow, Danielle Wilson, was not present in court today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The courtroom was packed for Matt Wright’s sentencing.\u00a0 (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Sentencing submissions heard before verdict<\/p>\n

Earlier on Friday, the court heard three hours of sentencing submissions from both the prosecution and defence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his submissions to the judge, Crown Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC said the charges warranted a term of actual imprisonment.<\/p>\n

He said Wright’s motivation for interfering in the investigation was his fear that “systemic under-reporting of flying hours” would be found by investigators to have been the cause of the accident.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chris “Willow” Wilson was killed in the crash and pilot Sebastian Robinson was seriously injured. (Supplied: Careflight)<\/p>\n

Mr Gullaci said Wright’s visit to Mr Robinson in Royal Brisbane Hospital, while the “seriously injured” pilot was still heavily medicated and in a “vulnerable position”, was motivated in part by “self-interest”.<\/p>\n

“There is a level of real callousness about that attendance,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Wright’s defence lawyer Luke Officer opened his submissions to the court by describing the crash as a “tragic accident”.<\/p>\n

“These were a bunch of mates, they were nothing short of thick as thieves, but sadly that mateship fell apart,” Mr Officer said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Matt Wright’s defence lawyers Luke Officer and David Edwardson KC.\u00a0 (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Mr Officer said his client was not to sentenced for the cause of the accident, the death of his friend or the catastrophic injuries that were suffered by the pilot.<\/p>\n

“He also is not to be sentenced because he is Matt Wright,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He is not to be sentenced for his celebrity status.”<\/p>\n

Mr Officer urged the judge to sentence Wright to an intensive community corrections order or a wholly suspended sentence.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kaia Wright was in court to support her husband on Friday. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Mr Officer described the 46-year-old as a “hard-working man” and “devoted father” who had “excellent” prospects of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

He also revealed Wright was “teetering on financial ruin” following years of legal proceedings and had been subjected to “intense” media scrutiny.<\/p>\n

After hearing the submissions, Acting Justice Blow took two hours to consider the arguments before delivering his sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended after five months, for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84512,4740,77091,103542,93212,203888,81995,92605,203885,84508,203886,63402,75302,203883,84509,203884,50,13263,81994,203890,203887,203889,103541,203882],"class_list":{"0":"post-442159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-attempt-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrity-crocodile-wrangler","11":"tag-chopper-crash","12":"tag-chris-willow-wilson","13":"tag-chris-willow","14":"tag-chris-wilson","15":"tag-court-case","16":"tag-court-sentence","17":"tag-croc-wrangler","18":"tag-crocodile-egg-collection","19":"tag-helicopter-crash","20":"tag-matt-wright","21":"tag-matt-wright-court","22":"tag-matt-wright-in-court","23":"tag-matt-wright-sentence","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-nt","26":"tag-outback-wrangler","27":"tag-remote-nt","28":"tag-seb-robinson","29":"tag-supreme-court-sentence","30":"tag-wild-croc-territory","31":"tag-wright-case"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442159","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=442159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}