Man who first found wreckage of helicopter gives evidence

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The man who first found the wreckage of a crashed helicopter and the body of Chris Wilson has given evidence in the trial of TV star, Matt Wright. Mr Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The prosecution allege Mr Wright interfered with the crash investigation concerned authorities would discover a consistent under-recording of flying hours by him and his pilots.

Transcript

00:00First up in the witness box today, the man first to the scene of the tragic helicopter

00:07crash which killed father of two, Chris Willow Wilson.

00:13Pilot Michael Burbage was flying one of three helicopters involved in the Crocodile Egg

00:17collecting mission on February 28, 2022.

00:21He told the court he went looking for Chris Wilson and Seb Robinson after he hadn't heard

00:26from them, discovering the grim scene a short time later.

00:29Mr Burbage said he waited for an hour before help arrived and he couldn't remember whether

00:34he checked the crash chopper's fuel tank.

00:37Apparently I did, but I have no recollection.

00:40I was pretty cooked by then.

00:42The jury was played a covertly recorded phone conversation between Mr Burbage and Mr Wright.

00:48In the recording, Mr Burbage could be heard saying someone had written something in the

00:52logbook and telling Mr Wright he needed to have a look at them.

00:56Impressed by Prosecutor Jason Galacci about what the conversation was about, Mr Burbage

01:02denied being worried the logbooks could be used as evidence of an under-recording of the

01:07crashed chopper's flying hours.

01:09What you were concerned about is if the authorities got it, it's going to reveal that Mr Wright

01:14had been under-recording hours.

01:17No, that wasn't my concern.

01:19My concern was just that I'd heard this and I wanted Matt to check it out.

01:23Nothing more.

01:24Mr Burbage confirmed he did dispose of Chris Wilson's mobile phone, but told the court Matt

01:30Wright had nothing to do with it.

01:32I piffed it somewhere on my way home.

01:34I don't know where, mate.

01:36Matt Wright did not hand me the phone.

01:38I did it all on my own.

01:39Another two men involved in the egg collecting mission gave evidence this afternoon,

01:44Ty Richardson and Timothy Luck.

01:46Mr Luck told the court he was 100% certain he saw the chopper carrying Chris Wilson and

01:52Sebastian Robinson being filled with fuel just a short time before it went down.

01:57The court is yet to hear from the pilot who survived the crash, Sebastian Robinson,

02:02who is expected to give evidence when the trial resumes next week.

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