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Reality TV star Matt Wright has been found guilty of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a deadly helicopter crash.
But a Supreme Court jury in Darwin today failed to reach agreement on a third count after a four-week trial.
The star of Outback Wrangler faced accusations of attempting to hide evidence after a crash in February 2022 that resulted in the death of his co-star, Chris “Willow” Wilson, and left pilot Sebastian Robinson with paraplegia.
Wright sat impassively in the dock as the verdicts were delivered and his defence counsel said his client would appeal the verdicts.
He was granted bail despite the prosecution seeking he go into custody given the seriousness of the offences.
The charges brought against Wright were unrelated to the cause of the incident, and the prosecution did not claim he was responsible for the crash, Wilson’s death, or Robinson’s injuries.
Prosecutors claimed that Wright was concerned about investigators discovering that the flying-hour meters on his helicopters were often disconnected to exceed official flying limits, with documentation tampered to correspond.
Senior defence counsel David Edwardson KC worked hard to focus blame on Robinson, who was painted as a cocaine-trafficking “party animal”.
Wright had earlier pleaded not guilty to all three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The jury for the trial held before Acting Justice Allan Blow on Friday found Wright guilty of two counts.
But they could not reach agreement on a third after they had begun deliberating late yesterday.
This allegation included Wright asking a friend to destroy the maintenance release of the crashed helicopter by setting it on fire, in an effort to prevent it from coming into the possession of air crash investigators.
Wright will be sentenced on October 6.