Reality TV star Matt Wright offered $10,000 to the family of a helicopter pilot badly injured in a fatal crash but it was declined, a jury has heard.
The Outback Wrangler star is on trial in Darwin Supreme Court having pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The charges follow a helicopter crash in February 2022 that killed Wright’s friend and co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson on a crocodile-egg collecting mission in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land.
Pilot Sebastian Robinson, 32, was left a paraplegic after the crash.
Today, his mother, Noelene Chellingworth, was questioned about her diary entries in the weeks after the crash, agreeing she had recorded that Wright had offered her $10,000 to “tide her over” and pay bills.Â
“We told him we didn’t want it,” she said under questioning by crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC.Â
Chellingworth told the court she had met with a lawyer in March 2022 to discuss whether her son could sue for negligence and explored claiming workers’ compensation.
She agreed the legal advice was that Robinson was an independent contractor so making a claim as a direct employee was not an option.
One of her diary entries made when she was with her son in Royal Brisbane Hospital read: “Matt Wright came in today and tried to persuade Sebastian to put hours on his helicopter”.
Wright has been accused of trying to get Robinson to fake flying-hour records because he was concerned crash investigators would find out he and his pilots had disconnected flight-time meters and faked paperwork
Senior defence counsel David Edwardson KC put it to Chellingworth she had added diary entries to support her claims in court, which she denied.
She disagreed with Edwardson’s accusation she falsely alleged Wright had wanted Robinson to transfer flying hours from the crashed chopper onto the pilot’s helicopter.
Under questioning from Gullaci, Chellingworth agreed she was very concerned her son might not walk or work again and explored legal options for compensation.
“He wasn’t going to be dropped in on a wheelchair to collect eggs was he?” Gullaci said, referring to egg collectors being slung on a line under a helicopter to be dropped onto crocodile nests.
Chellingworth tearfully told the court in the weeks after the crash she was devastated, and very worried about her son and his mental state.
She said Robinson had a paraplegic uncle who he was a carer for “so he knew what he was in for”.
The jury has heard Wright was unvaccinated against COVID so at the time of the crash could not work in Arnhem Land because of virus restrictions.
That meant Robinson, who could sling collectors under a chopper, was “always under pressure from Matt Wright”, Chellingworth said.
The charges against Wright do not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution does not allege he is responsible for the crash, Wilson’s death or Robinson’s injuries.
