Jury begins deliberations in crocodile wrangler’s Supreme Court trial

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The jury in the trial of celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright has retired to consider its verdict. Mr Wright pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a fatal chopper crash that killed his close friend and co-star, Chris Wilson.

Transcript

00:00Well, Joe, this morning we heard from Matt Wright's defence barrister, David Edwardson

00:07Casey, who spent about two hours taking the jury through each of those three counts of

00:13attempting to pervert the course of justice and essentially pointing out what the defence

00:17says are deficiencies in the Crown case.

00:23He began his closing speech to the jury by saying that there are no winners in cases

00:28like these. He essentially told the jury that this tight-knit group of friends who are really

00:35involved in this case have been torn apart, split apart and changed forever as a result

00:41of this tragic helicopter accident back in 2022, which really lies at the heart of this

00:47case. One of the key witnesses to give evidence in the course of these proceedings was Sebastian

00:52Robinson. He, of course, is the pilot that survived that helicopter accident. Today the

00:59defence essentially told the jury that Mr Robinson had told lie after lie, untruth after untruth,

01:06and even at one point suggested that Mr Robinson had played up his serious injuries to avoid

01:12answering questions under cross-examination. So he urged the jury to set aside the evidence

01:18given by Mr Robinson and his family members and ultimately to acquit Mr Wright on all three

01:23of those counts.

01:24So we heard a short summary by the judge, acting justice Alan Blow, and then the jury was sent to

01:34deliberate and of course now they are left with the task of deciding their verdict on each of those

01:39three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. They were deliberating for a couple of

01:44hours this afternoon. We've just received word just a few moments ago, Joe, that they have told the

01:50court that they would like to go home for the evening and they'll reconvene tomorrow for further

01:55deliberations.

01:55And there's been a lot of public interest in the case there in the Territory?

01:59There certainly has, Joe. This has really been a story that has captured the imagination and

02:08curiosity of people, not just here in the Northern Territory or in Australia, but in fact the world.

02:14The men that were involved in this crocodile egg collecting mission back on the 28th of February,

02:192022, which is the day of that helicopter accident, were doing things that most of us have never heard

02:25anything about. Crocodile egg collecting is something that seems so wild to most people. So I think that

02:31curiosity is something that's contributed to this. And then of course to have Matt right at the center of it,

02:36you know, someone who was very well recognized because of his roles in those various hit television series as well.

02:43And not to mention, of course, just the tragedy of this case. It was an extremely shocking accident. A young

02:50father lost his life. A pilot was left with lifelong injury. So I think the culmination of all of those

02:57factors has certainly led to a huge amount of publicity. And in fact, that is something that the defense and

03:02the prosecution urged the jury to really pay no attention to and to really just focus their minds purely on the

03:08evidence that they've heard over the last couple of weeks in court.

03:10Let's see.

03:12Thank you, buddy.

03:17Bye.

03:18Bye.

03:19Bye.

03:20Bye.

03:22Bye.

03:30Bye.

03:31Bye.

03:32Bye.

03:33Bye.

03:37Bye.

03:38Bye.

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