Three years after a tragic helicopter crash that killed his friend, Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright will finally face trial on charges related to the investigation into the crash.
Following a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, Chief Justice Michael Grant set a trial date eight weeks from July 7, 2025.
The Netflix TV series star has pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice following the crash that killed her co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson in 2022.
The sole charge relates to alleged behaviour following the crash in West Arnhem Land, where pilot Sebastian Robinson was also seriously injured.
In the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, senior Crown prosecutor Steve Ledek said the charges currently before Darwin Local Court would also be added to the indictment and explored at trial.
“It’s a process that won’t take long,” he told the court.
‘We have already added materials to provide (to Wright’s attorneys)… we need to add them because they relate to specific, identifiable acts or criminal conduct.’
Ledek also said that a surveillance device in the possession of the prosecution has already been handed over to the defense.
Matt Wright (pictured with his wife and children) has pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice following the crash that killed his co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson in 2022.
The trial date has been set for July 7, 2025 (pictured: Matt Wright and his wife Kaia)
The prosecution is expected to call 125 witnesses.
Wright’s lawyer, Frank Merenda, explained that a summons was issued to Northern Territory Police Commissioner Micheal Murphy and that it needed to be reissued by the Northern Territory Police due to several errors in the legal requirements of that document.
Judge Grant said there were several problems with the subpoena, including the fact that it did not comply with court practice.
“The first thing was that… I did not agree with the practice of this court that has been in place for 21 years,” he said.
‘The second problem was that it was in any case defective in its appearance, because it had the production date as the date it was introduced.’
Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson (pictured with his wife Danielle) died in a helicopter crash three years ago.
Wright turned his head from side to side as he followed the heated exchange between the court and Judge Grant.
Wright’s attorney said the subpoena would be refiled as the court sees fit.
The pre-trial hearing is scheduled for October 25.
