Four face charges of stealing crocodile eggs in Kakadu

Four men are charged with stealing hundreds of crocodile eggs from a world-famous national park.

Pilot Sebastian Robinson, along with Timothy Luck, Dean Larsen and Stephen Slark, are all charged with capturing, keeping and relocating a species from Kakadu National Park in February 2024.

A company, SDRL Pty Ltd, operating as Kinga Contracting, is also accused of obtaining a financial advantage by deception in connection with the case.

The egg stealing allegations follow a joint investigation by Parks Australia, the Australian Federal Police and the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission.

Legal crocodile egg collecting in the Northern Territory supplies eggs to crocodile farms and involves helicopter pilots lowering a man on a line onto nests to do the collecting in remote wetlands.

Today in Darwin Local Court, Ruth Champion, appearing on behalf of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, said the charges of illegally taking crocodile eggs constitute a serious offence.

This took into account the sophistication and complexity of the operation, the number of suspects acting together, the use of a helicopter and the very large number of eggs stolen, she told the court.

“We’re not talking about one, two or three, but something in the hundreds.”

Champion also noted the impact of the alleged egg theft on traditional owners and the cultural damage they experience.

Defense lawyer Thomas Clelland told the court the case was complicated and involved the complex area of ​​DNA analysis.

Judge Elizabeth Morris set a five-day hearing from November 30 to December 4, calling for 10 witnesses.

In February 2022, Robinson was piloting a helicopter on a legal crocodile egg collecting mission in the Top End when the machine crashed, killing egg collector Chris “Willow” Wilson and leaving Robinson paralyzed.

Their employer, helicopter operator and reality TV star Matt Wright, was found guilty in December of attempting to pervert the course of justice in connection with the crash investigation.

The star of hit TV shows Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory is behind bars in Darwin serving a five-month prison sentence for trying to tamper with evidence to cover up the disconnection of flight time meters.

Wright was not accused of causing the crash, his co-star Wilson’s death or Robinson’s injuries and is not involved in the egg stealing.