Outback Wrangler Matt Wright appears in Supreme Court amid stoush over mobile phone data

Netflix star Matt Wright has been accused of going on a legal “fishing expedition” by requesting all documents surrounding a fatal helicopter crash during a croc egg collecting mission.

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright has faced court in his latest bid to access his friends’ mobile phone data and the police investigation into the cause of a fatal helicopter crash ahead of his mammoth eight-week trial.

The reality television star appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Thursday for a pre-trial hearing, eight months out from his chopper crash conspiracy trial.

Mr Wright has pleaded not guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice following a helicopter crash that killed his Netflix co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson in February 2022.

Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson. The 34-year-old father-of-two was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in a remote part of West Arnhem Land while collecting crocodile eggs. Pictures: Supplied

Defence barrister David Edwardson told the court the NT Police were set to miss their subpoena deadline to hand over the police major crash investigation, and all mobile phone data.

Solicitor representing the NT Police Commissioner, Ruth Brebner, confirmed that with just six days until the nominated handover date of October 30, investigators still needed more time

Ms Brebner said while all information would be provided to the courts, there was likely to be an extensive legal argument about the admissibility of the evidence.

She said police would argue the ultimate cause of the crash during the crocodile egg-collecting mission was not relevant to Mr Wright’s alleged attempt to pervert the course of justice.

“What’s the relevance? It’s a fishing expedition, it doesn’t have a legitimate forensic purpose,” Ms Brebner said.

She said there were additional concerns about the large scale of information scraped from the mobiles from all those allegedly involved in the chopper crash conspiracy.

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright leaving the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin on October 24, 2024, alongside his wife Kaia and his barrister David Edwardson. Picture: Zizi Averill

“It’s oppressive, the materials are huge,” she said.

Chief Justice Michael Grant agreed to extend the deadline for police to handover evidence, however, this did not impact the set trial date of July 7, 2025.

Justice Grant set a further pre-trial hearing for November 14.

Originally published as Outback Wrangler Matt Wright appears in Supreme Court amid stoush over mobile phone data