Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright was preparing for his prison sentence on Friday night after being sentence for what court documents said was a calculated attempt to mislead investigators into his co-star’s death.
Wright, 46, was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment, suspended after five months, after a jury convicted him on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The allegations against Wright stemmed from his conduct following a February 2022 helicopter crash that killed his co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
In the Crown Sentencing Submissions, prosecutors alleged Wright embarked on ‘a deliberate and planned decision’ to interfere with the crash investigation.
They cited a sequence of actions between 3 March and 13 March 2022, describing them as ‘premeditated’ and ‘persistent’.
Prosecutors said Wright twice went to visit Mr Robinson at Royal Brisbane Hospital, where the pilot had recently come out of a coma and been told he would likely not walk again, ‘to put pressure on Sebastian Robinson to falsify records’.
In mitigation, the defence stressed the impact of the trial on Wright’s ‘good name’ had been ‘extraordinary’ and that he was now ‘all but bankrupt’ while expecting his third child.
Outback Wrangler Matt Wright has been sentenced to 10 months in prison
Wright’s charged stemmed from his conduct in the aftermath of a February 2022 crash that killed his co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
The Crown said Wright lacked any ‘remorse or contrition’ about the events which led to Mr Wilson’s death, even while acknowledging the emotional impact of the accident.
‘Wright was certainly affected by the death of his close friend Wilson and was emotional during parts of the trial. That is not remorse for his unlawful behaviour,’ prosecutors stated.
‘In relation to his own conduct, found to be unlawful, he has not expressed any remorse.’
In a recorded conversation of Wright used by prosecutors he could be heard trying to cover his tracks, court documents revealed.
Discrepancies in helicopter flight-hour recordings were his main concern during the 22 September 2022 conversation.
‘Hours aren’t going to match somewhere along the line… I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to tell the whole f***ing lot either. But where is the happy medium,’ Wright could be heard saying.
In another dated November 14 of the same year, he said there were ’30 or 40 hours that we were trying to f***ing make up’.
The Crown submitted Wright acted to ‘protect himself’, noting his own words to a family member: ‘So I was doing it to protect – yes, me, and Seb.’
Crown prosecutors claimed Wright showed ‘no remorse’ over the mistakes that led to the fatal helicopter crash
Instead the Crown submitted Wright acted to ‘protect himself’
Wright was convicted in August after being accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the helicopter, of trying to get Mr Robinson to falsify flying hours and of asking a friend to ‘torch’ the chopper’s maintenance release.
His lawyers argued the Crown had overstated the severity of his offending.
Defence lawyers argued Wright’s lying about fuel at the crash site was ‘towards the lower end of the range’ and insisted charge two was not ‘mid-level’ as the Crown contended.
They rejected claims Wright acted out of self-interest, suggesting the evidence instead ‘directly points to Mr Wright intending to protect Mr Robinson’.
‘His clear objective was to assist his “mate”,’ their documents argued.
The defence also challenged suggestions of planning, arguing Wright’s hospital visit was ‘not as controversial as it has been made out to be’.
Wrights request that Mr Robinson forge hours in their flight logs had been ‘no more than one request… not persistent nor threatening,’ they said.
The court did find throughout the trial that Wright did mourn the death of his friend Mr Wilson however
Their client’s willingness to cooperate throughout the trial also ‘reduced the length of the trial’ and ‘facilitated the course of justice’, the defence argued.
Seven character references were provided to the court in support of Wright from his friends and colleagues – including country singer Lee Kernaghan – urging the judge to be lenient.
These letters described Wright as a man of ‘exemplary good character’, a dedicated father, and someone who had made ‘an extraordinary contribution to the Northern Territory’ through tourism enterprises.
Multiple referees stressed that the offending was ‘out of character’ and that Wright had suffered reputational and financial harm as a result of the prolonged proceedings.
Zoe Rozario wrote three such letters to the court where in one she described Wright as a ‘visionary entrepreneur’ and ‘an exceptional individual of outstanding character’.
In others, Ms Rozario reaffirmed her endorsement of Wright even after he was initially found guilty in 2023.
‘I wish to confirm that despite Matthew Wright being found guilty in his recent trial, I stand by the words of my previous character reference,’ she wrote.
‘The passage of time during the trial process has not dulled Matts innate character nor my opinion of him.’
Several character reference letters were submitted to the court on behalf of Wright
Prosecutors sought a jail term for Wright but his defence lawyers wanted a non-custodial sentence and are pursuing an appeal.
Ultimately Acting Justice Alan Blow sentenced Wright to 10 months in prison, suspended after five months.
The judge noted both the seriousness of interfering with a crash investigation and Wright’s otherwise strong character and prospects for rehabilitation.
Wright was given a $5000 fine on the charge of lying to police.
The maximum penalty for attempting to pervert the course of justice is 15 years’ jail.
On August 29 a jury found Wright guilty on the first two counts but could not reach agreement on the third torching accusation.
The prosecution did not allege Wright caused the chopper crash, the death of Mr Wilson, or Mr Robinson’s injuries.