Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright released from prison, misses birth of baby boy

Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright has been released from prison and narrowly missed the birth of his newborn son.

He was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for five months, with a two-year good behavior bond, after a jury found him guilty of two charges of perverting the course of justice.

Wright is appealing the convictions

“Finally home to my family after a huge fight,” Wright wrote in an Instagram post, alongside a photo of himself, his two older children and his wife Kaia cradling their newborn.

It is understood Kaia gave birth to the couple’s third child just hours before the Outback Wrangler was released from prison, after her attempts to secure an early release from NT authorities for her husband on compassionate grounds failed.

Release ends prison sentence

In December last year, Wright was jailed for 10 months for attempting to pervert the course of justice following a fatal helicopter crash.

The Outback Wrangler star lost his best friend and co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson in the February 2022 crash that left pilot Sebastian Robinson paralyzed.

It happened during a crocodile egg collecting trip in Arnhem Land, while Wilson was slung on a line under a helicopter to drop onto nests in remote swampland.

At trial, Wright was accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the machine, trying to have Robinson falsify the flight hours and asking a friend to “flare” the helicopter’s maintenance release.

On August 29, a jury found Wright guilty of the first two charges, but could not reach an agreement on the third charge of burning.

In court, Acting Judge Blow sentenced Wright to 10 months in prison, suspended after serving five months, with a two-year period for good behavior.

He was fined $5,000 for lying to police.

Wright bowed to the judge before being led away.

The maximum penalty for attempting to pervert the course of justice is fifteen years in prison.

Prosecutors alleged that Wright feared investigators would discover that his helicopters’ flight hour meters were regularly disconnected to extend hours beyond official thresholds, falsifying paperwork in the process.

The prosecution did not allege that Wright caused the helicopter crash, Wilson’s death or Robinson’s injuries.

Acting Judge Blow said Wright made unlawful attempts to avoid charges being brought against him and his helicopter company Helibrook, despite holding an aviation license that carried safety obligations.

It was highly likely that the crashed helicopter should not have been allowed to fly after exceeding its maximum flight time of 2,200 hours, after which it would have had to be taken out of service or undergo a costly overhaul, the judge said.

“It is clear that you had reason to fear that a thorough investigation would reveal that the 2,200 hour limit had been exceeded,” he said.

Acting Judge Blow accepted Wright’s lies to police saying there was still fuel in the crashed helicopter. This was an attempt to prevent charges from being filed to protect himself and his friend Robinson.

That charge was not as serious as the attempt to get Robinson to falsify flight hour records by putting hours from the crashed helicopter onto the pilot’s own machine.

“That was a serious attempt to pervert the course of justice,” the judge said.

“It is significant that you had the insensitivity to make and pursue this request when Mr. Robinson had recently emerged from a coma and had just learned that it was unlikely he would ever walk again.”

Acting Judge Blow said this was the worst possible time to put any pressure on Robinson while he was heavily medicated and very vulnerable.

He found that Wright had contributed substantially to the community as a successful operator of tourism enterprises and as a supporter of charities and conservation causes, noting impressive character references.

The negative publicity surrounding Wright had left some of his companies on the verge of failure, the judge noted.

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