Celebrity alligator trainer Matt Wright will be jailed for five months. Tampered with evidence following a helicopter crash that killed a co-star and left the pilot paralyzed from the waist down.
Last August, the former Netflix star was found guilty of lying to police and pressuring a hospitalized witness following an accident in the Northern Territory (NT) in 2022.
Last Friday, Acting Judge Alan Blow sentenced Wright to 10 months in prison, which will be suspended after he has served half. He was also fined A$5,000 ($3,300, £2,500).
Judge Blow said Wright had “shown no signs of remorse” but was “unlikely to re-offend in a significant way in the future”.
The maximum sentence for his charges was 15 years in prison.
The jury could not agree on a verdict on the third charge, that Wright asked someone to “burn” evidence.
Wright’s attorney previously said they had a plan in place. Appeal against conviction.
The judge pointed to mitigating factors in determining prison time, including his contributions to the community and noting he was “the most impressive person I’ve ever seen.”
The NT Supreme Court case centered on a helicopter crash that occurred in Arnhem Land, about 500km east of Darwin, in February 2022.
Wright’s friend and Outback Wrangler co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson died while hanging from a helicopter in a sling during a trip to harvest alligator eggs.
Pilot Sebastian Robinson was seriously injured, suffering a punctured lung and severe brain damage.
Wright, who was not aboard the helicopter, was one of the first to arrive at the crash site.
During the month-long trial, prosecutors told the court that Wright lied to police about how much fuel was in the helicopter tank when it hit the ground.
The evidence included secret recordings of Wright’s conversations, which prosecutors said contradicted his claims in police interviews that the fuel tank was half full.
Wright is also accused of going to the hospital bedside of Mr Robinson, who had been told by doctors he may never walk again, and asking him to change flight logs showing how many hours the aircraft had been flying.
Prosecutors argued that this was because Wright was worried investigators would discover that he regularly changed the helicopter’s official flight times to avoid costly maintenance.
The jury returned unanimous verdicts on both counts.
The third charge involves Wright asking a friend to “burn” the helicopter’s maintenance records.
The jury was deadlocked on the third charge and could not reach a verdict. This is still being considered by the court.
This incident is not related to the cause of the accident, Mr. Wilson’s death, or Mr. Robinson’s injuries.
False flight records were common
The trial exposed the inner workings of the NT helicopter community, with revelations that it was common practice to “bust the clock” by disconnecting the meters recording flight hours to delay maintenance requirements.
Prosecutors alleged that flight record falsification was widespread throughout the industry, and Wright feared his involvement in the practice would make him responsible for the crash.
Wright’s lawyers acknowledged reports of flight times were “widespread throughout the NT’s helicopter community” but argued Wright did not pervert the course of justice when he attempted to cover up the falsified records.
During the trial, the jury heard that Wright visited Mr Robinson several times while he was in hospital.
Prosecutors claimed Wright was there to give the injured pilot a “tough word” and asked Mr Robinson to transfer his flight time from the downed aircraft to another helicopter.
Under cross-examination, Mr Robinson denied being an “angry cocaine addict” after another witness, a fellow helicopter pilot, described him as a “party animal”.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the court heard traces of cocaine were found in Mr Robinson’s blood sample, but it was lower than the “quantity prescribed for enforcement” under aviation regulations.
Mr Robinson also told the court he had no memory of the crash, but admitted he must have deliberately disconnected Wilson’s sling because it was the best way to free the collector in an emergency. Investigators concluded Wilson died after falling 25 meters to the ground.
‘Everyone saw Matt as an idol’
Wright is best known internationally as the star of National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler and Netflix’s Wild Croc Territory reality show.
He also owns several local tourism businesses and has served as an Australian tourism ambassador.
During the trial, Mr Robinson told the court how much those who worked for Mr Wright respected him.
“Of course everyone idolized Matt, and when he said ‘jump,’ they would say ‘how high,’” Robinson said. “Everyone wanted to be there for him and work for him.”
“We were young people. We looked up to him, we wanted to do our best to make ourselves look good in front of him, and we wanted to follow whatever he said.”
Before sentencing, prosecutor Jason Gullach SC said Wright should be sentenced to ‘effective immediate imprisonment’ to reflect the ‘seriousness’ of his offences.
He explained that Wright’s repeated visits to Mr Robinson in hospital to ask him to falsify records were much more serious than lying about the fuel. This was “considered, planned and everything was directed to achieve the result of obstructing the course of justice”.
Wright’s lawyer David Edwardson KC asked the judge not to base his sentence on his client’s “celebrity status” and that Wright’s estimates of the helicopter’s fuel levels were “done to protect his spouse”.
