Revealed: Outback Wrangler pilot’s messages about buying and taking coke revealed in court

Numerous messages referring to ‘coke’ and drugs have been scraped from the phone of injured helicopter pilot Sebastian Robinson in explosive evidence tendered in the case against wrangler Matt Wright. Read the messages.

Text messages referring to “coke” and “footy players in town” wanting “bags” have been scraped from the mobile phone of injured helicopter pilot Sebastian Robinson and tendered as evidence in the case against celebrity croc wrangler Matt Wright.

The messages, which appear on Snapchat and other chat forums between 2018 and 2021, were extracted by Northern Territory police officer Jacob Fowler and handed on as part of the prosecution brief of evidence to Darwin Local Court this week.

Mr Robinson was flying the helicopter that crashed and killed Chris Wilson in West Arnhem Land on February 28, 2022. The pilot, who was seriously injured, has not been charged.

The messages were disclosed in the police brief against reality TV star Wright, who was committed to stand trial for allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice in the aftermath of the crash.

The messages were tendered as part of the prosecution’s disclosure obligations.

Text messages referring to cocaine have been scraped from the phone of pilot Sebastian Robinson.

In one of the messages, an unknown person wrote: “Hey sebby any chance of booking you out for a day nxt week tues to friday to do some cool shit if your not too busy 12 hours and coke bonus”.

Another message to Robinson said: “Anyone got bags” while Robinson appears to have written on another occasion: “I got cash” after telling someone who was “getting some coke” to “get me one”.

In another message: “Thanks for the weekend cobba the fuel cost $1100 so I’ll transfer you another $300 for the coke and another hundred to chip in for the fuel”.

One of the messages sent to Robinson says: “Footy players in town and want bags, RJ got any?”

Also tendered was a statutory declaration from Jacob Fowler, which stated he had conducted a review of Mr Robinson’s mobile phone in May 2023. The statutory declaration said the term “(owner)” in the reports referred to Mr Robinson.

In court on Thursday, NT prosecutor Steve Ledek said the DPP was ready to go to trial on one of seven charges.

Wright, 44, sat at the front of the court with his wife as his lawyer Greg Jones told Deputy Chief Judge Tanya Fong Lim an application to call witnesses would be withdrawn.

He will face the NT ­Supreme Court on January 18 on one count of perverting the course of justice.

. Matt Wright leaves the Darwin Local Court on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A string of other charges ­relating to the aftermath of a helicopter crash that killed Chris “Willow” Wilson last year were adjourned until June.

In a statement to media on Thursday Wright said: “I’m hopeful the remaining charges will all be withdrawn once this charge is dealt with next year”.

Wilson, Wright’s co-star on Outback Wrangler and Croc Territory, was killed when the Robinson R44 helicopter carrying him from a sling line plummeted to the ground near the NT’s King River.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found the helicopter was likely not refuelled at the fuel depot.

The pilot did not identify the reducing fuel state before the helicopter’s engine stopped in flight due to fuel exhaustion, the report found.

Pilot Sebastian Robinson (R) with Chris 'Willow' Wilson.

The ATSB found that Helibrook’s CASA-approved safety management system was not being used to systematically identify and manage operational hazards. As a result, the risks inherent in conducting human sling operations were not adequately ­addressed.

The ATSB also found that the pilot’s exposure to cocaine within the previous few days increased the likelihood of fatigue, depression and inattention, however there was insufficient evidence to determine if these effects occurred.

The helicopter’s emergency locator transmitter had been removed from its mount prior to the accident, the report found, therefore, it could not activate automatically, which likely delayed the emergency response.

On the day of the tragedy Wright received a call that there had been an accident involving the chopper operated by his company Helibrook, then learnt shortly after that Willow had died. He flew to the scene, with former police officer Neil Mellon and prominent Darwin publican and crocodile farmer Mick Burns, to discover Wilson was dead and Robinson had suffered serious spinal injuries.

Also at the crash scene were other members of the egg-collecting crew including Michael Burbidge and Jock Purcell.

Burbidge, who was facing four charges, pleaded guilty to destroying evidence and had the other three charges withdrawn. He will be sentenced on February 29. Mellon pleaded guilty to destroying evidence and will be sentenced March 1.

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