The jury in reality TV star Matt Wright‘s Supreme Court trial has become deadlocked on one of the three charges, unable to reach a verdict after closing submissions wrapped up yesterday.
Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, linked to a fatal helicopter crash.
Jurors have unanimously agreed on two of the three conspiracy allegations, but remain divided on a single charge.
The February 2022 accident killed the Outback Wrangler star’s best mate and co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
The pair were on a crocodile-egg collecting mission in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, with Mr Wilson slung on a line below the chopper to be dropped onto croc nests.
Wright is accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the machine, trying to get Mr Robinson to falsify flying hours and asking a friend to ‘torch’ the helicopter’s maintenance release.
Prosecutors allege Wright was worried crash investigators would learn his choppers’ meters were regularly disconnected to extend flying hours beyond official thresholds and paperwork was falsified to match.
The charges against him in Darwin’s Supreme Court do not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution does not allege he was responsible for the crash, Mr Wilson’s death or Mr Robinson’s injuries.
Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC argued Wright was ‘terrified’ he would face criminal charges over the crash so sought to cover up evidence of disconnected flying-hour meters and falsified paperwork.
Matt Wright (pictured during the trial with wife Kaia) has been accused of covering up that a crashed helicopter was well over its flying-hour limit for a major overhaul
Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a helicopter crash that killed his mate Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson (pictured)
The helicopter (pictured) crashed during a crocodile egg-collecting mission in remote swampland in the Northern Territory, in February 2022
Senior defence counsel David Edwardson KC rejected that motive and targeted Mr Robinson, alleging he forgot to refuel the aircraft and that caused engine failure and the crash.
He told the jury Mr Robinson and his family lacked credibility and had colluded to deflect blame onto Wright to try to protect the injured pilot from a possible manslaughter charge.
Mr Robinson and his family gave evidence Wright had visited the injured pilot in hospital and asked him to transfer flying hours from the crashed machine onto his own to cover up unrecorded hours.
But Mr Edwardson in his closing submissions said Wright had visited Mr Robinson out of concern for his welfare and to try to sort out his flight paperwork for his own helicopter which was weeks behind.
Mr Gullaci argued Wright knew the crashed chopper’s flying hours were a couple of hundred past the 2200-hour threshold at which the machine had to be retired or extensively overhauled at a cost of up to $500,000.
The TV star wanted to hide the fiddling of flight hours so embarked on his cover-up actions, the prosecutor alleged.
Mr Edwardson warned the jury it was ‘inherently dangerous’ to rely on a covert recording of Wright allegedly asking an associate to ‘torch’ a maintenance release for the crashed chopper.
That was because the recordings were inaudible and incomprehensible, he said.
The jury began deliberating on Thursday afternoon following Acting Justice Allan Blow’s instructions.
