Matt Wright seeks to avoid jury trial for work safety charges over Chris Wilson chopper crash

WorkSafe prosecutor Nicholas Goodfellow said he had had discussions with the celebrity croc wrangler’s legal team ‘about the course of this action and particularly the jurisdiction’.

Matt Wright outside the Darwin Local Court last year. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Celebrity croc wrangler Matt Wright will seek to convince WorkSafe prosecutors charges relating to a helicopter crash that killed his friend and co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson should be heard summarily.

Mr Wright’s barrister Giles O’Brien-Hartcher returned to the Darwin Local Court on Monday where his client stands charged with engaging in reckless conduct risking death and failing to comply with a health and safety duty.

His company Helibrook Pty Ltd is also facing the same charges following the fatal crash during a crocodile egg collecting trip to the King River in western Arnhem Land in 2022.

On Monday, prosecutor for the work safety watchdog Nicholas Goodfellow said Mr Wright’s legal team had asked whether WorkSafe would consent to the case remaining in the Local Court.

“My learned friend and I have had a discussion about the course of this action and particularly the jurisdiction,” he said.

“There’s been an indication from my learned friend that perhaps the matter could remain in the summary jurisdiction.

“That’s something I’ll now have to consider and get more detailed instructions on.”

Netflix star Chris 'Willow' Wilson was killed in a helicopter crash during an ill-fated crocodile egg collecting mission in Arnhem Land in 2022.

But Mr Goodfellow said “at this point in time, the matter’s — from a WorkSafe perspective — heading down the committal stream”.

“That’s a proposal that’s been put and we have not had a chance to properly consider that and that’s what we seek to do,” he said.

Mr O’Brien-Hartcher requested that in the absence of a definitive answer from WorkSafe the case remain in the directions hearing list rather than the preliminary examination mention stream.

“My one reluctance would be that if it ends up in the PEM stream sometimes it’s difficult to get it back into this stream and I wouldn’t want that to be the case,” he said.

“Sometimes things gain a particular momentum of their own.”

But Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris said “if he’s not consenting to jurisdiction I have to start the committal process, the act says (so)”.

“The prosecution gets the call on that, so if they say (they’re) declining there’s nothing the defendant or the court can do about it,” she said.

“We’re in control of our papers, our papers are not in control of us Mr O’Brien-Hartcher.”

The case returns to court on August 28.

Originally published as Matt Wright seeks to avoid jury trial for work safety charges over Chris Wilson chopper crash