analysis

Croc wrangler Matt Wright’s prison sentence a stark warning after years-long court saga

31 minutes agoSat 13 Dec 2025 at 1:02am

Crocodile wrangler Matt Wright was sentenced on Friday to 10 months in prison over his crimes, to be suspended after five months. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)

Matt Wright had a lot to lose.

The celebrity crocodile wrangler had built a tourism and television empire in the Northern Territory, and central to it was his unarguable charisma and spirit of adventure.

But the foundations of that world started to shake after he was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over events that unfolded in the aftermath of a fatal helicopter crash in 2022.

The star of documentary adventure series Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory was suddenly in the limelight for a very different reason — having to front cameras for weeks outside the NT Supreme Court.

Matt Wright’s trial in the NT Supreme Court garnered a significant amount of media attention, particularly on the day of the verdict. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)

Each day during his highly publicised, highly pressurised, month-long trial in August, he showed up with supporters and sat in the witness box, battling to preserve his reputation.

But, as it has now eventuated, the pendulum did not swing his way.

On August 29, a jury found the Netflix show star guilty on two of three charges that he had tried to interfere with investigations into the crash that killed his friend and co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson, and left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.

Then, on Friday, December 12, the final sting — Acting Justice Alan Blow sentenced Wright to 10 months in prison over his crimes, to be suspended after five months.

Matt Wright was taken into custody and is now serving his sentence at Holtze prison. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)

It was the second charge that Acting Justice Blow viewed as most serious — that Wright had visited Mr Robinson in hospital after the crash and tried to make him falsify helicopter documents.

In his sentencing remarks, Acting Justice Blow said Wright had shown "no remorse" and spoke of his "callousness" in trying to pressure Mr Robinson, a "catastrophically injured man".

Despite character references that described Wright as a "family man of the highest calibre", he was taken into custody by court guards and will now do time in Darwin’s Holtze prison.

The decision comes at a time when his wife, Kaia Wright, is pregnant with their third child.

Kaia Wright leaves the NT Supreme Court surrounded by family and friends. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)

Trial brought cowboy helicopter culture to light

Much will be written about Wright’s crimes and the time he has been sentenced to serve behind bars.

But Wright’s attempts to pervert the course of justice were not the only revelations from the trial that deserve to be properly recounted.

The jury heard compelling details about a cowboy culture of helicopter safety and maintenance breaches being "widespread" in the aviation industry in northern Australia.

A culture that saw helicopter pilots — including Wright and others involved in the trial — flaunt civil aviation regulations in order to avoid costly maintenance of their aircraft.

After Wright’s guilty verdict, long-term aircraft maintenance engineer Gregg Hooper decided the time was right to blow the whistle on a culture he said had existed in the sector for years.

"It’s a perfect time to go ‘enough’s enough’ — make the machines safer, make everyone toe the line and record their hours, and do it properly," he told the ABC.

In response, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the agency responsible for policing pilots, said "we can’t be everywhere" and urged those in the sector to report any wrongdoing.

Matt Wright’s trial unearthed details about a cowboy culture of helicopter safety breaches being "widespread" in the aviation industry. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)

In coronial findings about a separate, unrelated chopper crash death, released in the months after the Wright trial verdict, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage recommended that "CASA engage more effectively with helicopter mustering operations in the Northern Territory".

"To ensure observance of regulatory requirements and improve safety culture, specifically, concerning the accurate recording of flight hours and compliance with scheduled maintenance requirements," she wrote.

It was a sign that people in positions of authority were wanting to see real change in an industry that, by accounts, has managed to fly under the radar for a long period of time.

Matt Wright’s Outback Wrangler TV show aired on National Geographic. (Suppled: National Geographic, Outback Wrangler)

Trial’s outcome serves as a warning

During his sentencing remarks, Acting Justice Blow said Wright was aware that his pilots were under-recording their flying hours to avoid costly maintenance of the aircraft.

He also found it was "highly likely" that Mr Wilson’s crashed helicopter had exceeded the maximum number of flying hours before requiring a complete maintenance overhaul.

Wright was not alleged to have caused the crash that killed Mr Wilson.

Wright’s friend and co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson was killed in the 2022 helicopter crash in remote Arnhem Land. (Supplied: Careflight)

But a jury found that he did try to hide the fact that his helicopters were not properly maintained, and, as Acting Justice Blow put it, he had been "unlawfully" doctoring hours.

Wright did not face trial for his helicopter safety breaches.

But the trial’s outcome serves as a warning to the chopper industry that such misbehaviour, and any attempts to hide it from authorities, may end in harsh penalties — and in extreme examples, such as Wright’s case, severe reputational damage and jail time.