Matt Wright Darwin Local Court ‘back-up’ charges dropped ahead of Supreme Court appeal
Prosecutors are no longer pursuing allegations that Outback Wrangler Matt Wright fabricated and destroyed evidence, made a false declaration, issued threats and unlawfully entered two buildings. Read the latest from court.
Prosecutors have dropped six ‘back up’ charges related to an Aussie celebrity’s high-profile chopper crash conspiracy trial in the lead up to his appeal bid.
On Wednesday the Darwin Local Court heard that six charges against Outback Wrangler Matt Wright be withdrawn and dismissed, just months before his anticipated appeal in December.
After 16-days of evidence in August, a Supreme Court jury found Wright guilty of two out of the three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The jury determined that the Netflix and Apple TV star attempted to interfere in the investigation of the death of his best mate Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson, who was killed in a helicopter crash while collecting crocodile eggs in February 2022.
The trial heard that Wright had a “pattern” of failing to record flight hours at his helicopter business to evade costly maintenance requirements, and as a result he knew that his Robinson R-44 was not airworthy when it took off with Mr Wilson that morning.
The 34-year-old father was killed in the crash, while his 28-year-old pilot Seb Robinson suffered critical injuries and remains a paraplegic.
The jury found Wright lied to NT Police and Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators about fuel levels in the crashed chopper, and attempted to pressure the sole survivor of the crash to manipulate his flight records.
The verdict was delivered almost three years after the Aussie celebrity first appeared in the local courts facing the conspiracy charges, as well as destroying evidence and fabricating evidence, making a false declaration, making threats or reprisals to interfere with witnesses involved in a criminal investigation and two counts of unlawful entry.
On Wednesday those six remaining allegations, which have stayed in the local court, were formally withdrawn and dismissed.
Wright’s legal representative Lauren Hooper initially appeared before the celebrity’s old barrister, turned local court judge Giles O’Brien-Hartcher.
Mr O’Brien-Hartcher flagged the potential conflict, having represented Wright on the conspiracy charges before it reached the Supreme Court, and on a Work Health Safety matter.
“If it’s just charges being dropped then it’s not controversial, but if there’s going to be anything further then I should probably put it before another judge,” he said.
Wright’s file was moved before deputy chief judge Tanya Fong Lim, who took less than 90 seconds to accept the withdrawal of the charges.
The removal of the local court charges comes as Wright prepares to launch an appeal over his Supreme Court trial on December 12.
The television star has claimed that the verdict was ‘unreasonable or unsupported by evidence’, that there was ‘ineradicable doubt’ about whether he asked for the falsification of records, the prosecution substantially departed from their opening submissions, and the judge made an ‘impermissible comment’ in his closings.
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Originally published as Matt Wright Darwin Local Court ‘back-up’ charges dropped ahead of Supreme Court appeal
