Outback Wrangler Matt Wright’s mate Tim Johnston allegedly tried to get Seb Robinson’s diary from hospital

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright’s mate allegedly went to the hospital room of a paraplegic and recently comatose pilot to pick up his diary, a jury has heard. Mr Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice during the investigation into a chopper crash that killed his co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson on February 28, 2022. It has been alleged Mr Wright engaged in a “pattern” of failing to accurately record flight times for the crashed helicopter to avoid costly maintenance requirements. Prosecutor Jason Gullaci has alleged Mr Wright knew, and attempted to cover up, the helicopter carrying his two friends and employees should never have flown that fateful morning due to these service requirements. Sebastian Robinson, the pilot and sole survivor, was allegedly visited by work friend Tim Johnston in his Brisbane Hospital room days after the catastrophic crash. On Friday, his brother Jacob Robinson told the jury a stranger, Mr Johnston, introduced himself as Mr Wright’s colleague and asked for the injured pilot’s phone and a book. “It just looked like a diary. I wasn’t too sure,” Jacob said. He alleged Mr Johnson said “Matty sent him to grab it” and “We really, really need the logbook”. Jacob said he “felt pressured” into giving him the book, but refused to hand over his brother’s phone. “As soon as I gave it to him, he’s pretty much took off,” Jacob said. He said as soon as their mother, Nolene Chellingworth, returned she “started crying and said I shouldn’t have done that”. ‘Hallucinating’ Jacob said Ms Chellingworth called Mr Johnston back, and he returned the pilot’s book. On Monday, Mr Robinson’s girlfriend Rhanii Lee said she also remembered the “very emotional” Mr Johnson asking for Mr Robinson’s book before leaving. Mr Robinson said he was still heavily sedated, under a lot of medication and “hallucinating” when Mr Wright and his wife Kaia allegedly visited him 11 days after the catastrophic crash, on March 11. The paraplegic man alleged his boss asked him to transfer a “few hours” from the crashed chopper — with the call sign IDW — to Mr Robinson’s personal Robinson R-44, call sign ZXZ. “He mentioned something about CASA and then potentially transferring hours over from IDW to ZXZ. Mr Robinson has conceded he was “behind a few entries” on his personal chopper’s maintenance release, missing almost three months of entries back to early December. But Mr Wright’s defence senior counsel David Edwardson said the young pilot was “hopelessly behind” on his paperwork. He said Mr Robinson was under Mr Wright’s Air Operator’s Certificate, and as such his boss was “ultimately responsible” he was compliant with aviation laws. Mr Edwardson suggested Mr Wright was making sure his pilot’s records were “up to speed”, but Mr Robinson maintained he was asked to manipulate his records. The young pilot has acknowledged he initially lied to air crash investigators because he was “worried and panicked” about his own underreporting of hours. He said it was “common practice in the industry” — including at Mr Wright’s Helibrook — for pilots to not record flight hours and to disconnect the Hobbs Meter, similar to a car’s odometer. “I worked for Helibrook and all the aircraft were never kept up to date,” he said. The now paraplegic pilot with a traumatic brain injury revealed to the jury he has not received any workers’ compensation in the wake of the crash. He said since he started as an egg collector at just 18 years old, he was led to believe he would be covered as a subcontractorof Wild Harvest NT. “I was led to, everyone was led to believe that everyone in the egg collection was covered by worker’s compensation,” Mr Robinson said. “As I progressed into flying I always assume that ... WHNT covered everyone’s worker’s compensation, that I did not need to have my own worker’s compensation.” Mr Robinson said when he took off the morning of the fatal crash, he believed he would be covered either by WHNT or Mr Wright’s Helibrook. Now bound to a wheelchair, Mr Robinson said finding out he would never walk again was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life”. “Learning that you’ve got a severed spinal cord... you can’t think, you can’t say, you know, you’re scared,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish that experience upon anyone”. The trial continues on Tuesday.