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Reality TV star Matt Wright has been found guilty of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a deadly helicopter crash.
But a Supreme Court jury in Darwin on Friday failed to reach agreement on a third count after a four-week trial.
The Outback Wrangler star was accused of trying to cover up evidence following the February 2022 crash that killed his 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 Wilson slung on a line below the chopper to be dropped onto croc nests in remote swampland.
The Air Transport Safety Bureau concluded the helicopter ran out of fuel, causing the engine to shut down and the machine to crash to the ground.
Wright was accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the helicopter, of trying to get Robinson to falsify flying hours and of asking a friend to “torch” the helicopter’s maintenance release.
Wright sat impassively in the dock as the verdicts were delivered and his defence counsel said his client would appeal the verdicts.
He was granted bail despite the prosecution seeking he go into custody given the seriousness of the offences.
The charges against Wright did not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution did not allege he was responsible for the crash, Wilson’s death or Robinson’s injuries.
A helicopter crash on a crocodile egg collecting mission left one man dead and another a paraplegic. Source: Supplied / Australian Transport Safety Bureau
Prosecutors alleged Wright was worried investigators would learn his helicopters’ flying-hour meters were regularly disconnected to extend flying hours beyond official thresholds and paperwork was falsified to match.
Senior defence counsel David Edwardson KC worked hard to focus blame on Robinson, who was painted as a cocaine-trafficking “party animal”.
Wright had earlier pleaded not guilty to all three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The jury for the trial held before Acting Justice Alan Blow on Friday found Wright guilty of two counts.
But they could not reach agreement on a third after they had started deliberating late on Thursday.
That count regarded Wright asking a friend to “torch” the crashed chopper’s maintenance release in a bid to stop it getting into the hands of air crash investigators.
Wright will be sentenced on 6 October.
