Matt Wright was sentenced to 5 months in prison and fined $5,000 after a jury found he interfered with an investigation into a fatal helicopter crash.
Matt Wright, known for both Territory of the wild crocodiles And Outback Wranglerhas been sentenced to ten months in prison, five of which are suspended, for attempting to interfere with an investigation into a fatal helicopter crash three years ago.
ABC News reports Wright was convicted on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in August following a month-long trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
In August, a jury unanimously found him guilty of attempting to obstruct the crash investigation by lying to police and asking the injured pilot to falsify flight records. Co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson was killed and pilot Sebastian Robinson’s injuries left him paralyzed.
Count one relates to a lie Wright told police during a recorded interview four days after the accident about how much fuel he thought the helicopter had left.
Acting Judge Blow found that Wright’s “primary motive” for lying to police in the recorded interview after the crash was to “protect” the helicopter pilot from prosecution over the accident.
“In my opinion, protecting Mr. Robinson was your primary motive for telling police twice that there was fuel in the tank,” he said.
“You lied to protect a partner… your lies were spontaneous and unplanned.”
He ordered Wright to pay a $5,000 fine.
Count two relates to a visit Wright made to the seriously injured pilot, where he asked him to falsify the helicopter data.
The judge said count two was a “much more serious charge”.
“That was a serious attempt to pervert the course of justice, or at least a more serious attempt,” he said.
“You asked [Mr Robinson] to falsify recorded flight hours in his maintenance release to demonstrate [Mr Robinson’s helicopter] ZXZ had flown flights that were actually flown by IDW.”
“You had the insensitivity to make and pursue this request when Mr. Robinson had recently emerged from a coma and had just learned that he may never walk again.”
“It was the worst possible time to put any pressure on him – he was heavily medicated and very vulnerable.”
On count two, he imposed a 10-month prison sentence, which was suspended after five months because the second charge was a more serious attempt to pervert the course of justice.
In sentencing the 46-year-old, Acting Judge Blow also acknowledged the need for community deterrence, saying that although Wright had shown “no remorse” he was unlikely to offend again.
The judge acknowledged that Wright had been the subject of “unfair” scrutiny through the media and online and said his reputation had “suffered more than it should have”.
Wright would not be responsible for causing the crash itself.
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