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Speaker 1: Well, we learned late on Friday that Kroc wrangler Matt

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Speaker 1: Wright has been found guilty on two charges of interfering

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Speaker 1: with a fatal chopper crash investigation. Now was standing trial

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on three counts of

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Speaker 1: perverting the course of justice over his actions in the

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Speaker 1: aftermath of the crash that killed Chris Willow Wilson back

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. Now, on Friday, the jury found

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Speaker 1: Right guilty of lying to police about the amount of

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Speaker 1: fuel in the crash chopper and asking injured pilot Sebastian

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Speaker 1: Robinson to falsify flight records. The jury was deadlocked on

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Speaker 1: the third charge, relating to destroying a chopper the chopper's

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Speaker 1: maintenance record, and was discharged. Now, joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line is somebody who has been in that courtroom every

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Speaker 1: single day. ABC News journalist Olivana Luthurus, Good morning to you, Ollie.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. Now, Ollie, how

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Speaker 1: long did it take the jury to reach the verdict

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Speaker 1: on Friday, Well, really.

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Speaker 2: Quick, Katie, it was a few hours. On the Thursday afternoon.

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Speaker 2: The jury was sent to deliberate on Thursday afternoon, and

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Speaker 2: we had about three hours or so of deliberations and

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Speaker 2: then they asked to be sent home, and then everyone

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Speaker 2: was rushed back here at nine am on Friday morning.

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Speaker 2: And after just three hours in the morning on Friday,

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Speaker 2: they told the judge that they had finished deliberating on

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Speaker 2: those first two counts that you mentioned, and that they

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Speaker 2: were stuck in this hopeless deadlock on the third count.

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Speaker 2: So all in all, it was about six hours of

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Speaker 2: deliberating before the judge basically decided to accept the verdict

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Speaker 2: on one and two and then to discharge the jury.

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Speaker 1: And what was the reaction in the courtroom when that

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Speaker 1: verdict was actually delivered.

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Speaker 2: It was I mean, you know, there's so much tension

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Speaker 2: that bills around waiting for a verdict like that to

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Speaker 2: be handed down, you know, to be honest, everyone was

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Speaker 2: very restrained. You know, there was you know, family members

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Speaker 2: there from you know, Sebastian Robinson, the pilot, Daniel Wilson,

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Speaker 2: the wife of Chris Wilson was in the room of course,

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Speaker 2: a large contingent of Matt's family as well, and there

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Speaker 2: was sort of a moment of a sort of shock

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Speaker 2: when the verdict was handed down. But everyone was very

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Speaker 2: you know, really held their emotions quite close to their

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Speaker 2: chest until you know, afterward when they left the court

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Speaker 2: room and then spoke out the front of court.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well we heard from obviously, we heard from Sebastian

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Speaker 1: Robinson's brother, We heard from Danny Wilson, and also heard

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Speaker 1: from Matt Right. Talk us through some of what was

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Speaker 1: said outside of.

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Speaker 2: Court, Yeah, or there was plenty of family members who

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Speaker 2: sort of gave these very emotional statements out the front

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Speaker 2: of court. Danielle Wilson I spoke about sort of, you know,

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Speaker 2: being relieved in a sense that this chapter has come

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Speaker 2: to a close, but of course, you know, she is

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Speaker 2: still having to live with, you know, the pain of

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Speaker 2: losing her husband and the father of her two kids.

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Speaker 2: You know. Sebastian Robinson. His brother Zack Chellingworth read a

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Speaker 2: statement on his behalf out the front of the courtroom

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Speaker 2: and also just talked about, you know, what a painful

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Speaker 2: process this court proceeding has been, as did Matt Wright.

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Speaker 2: He gave a few very brief comments on his way

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Speaker 2: out of court. He said that he was disappointed with

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Speaker 2: the result. He confirmed that he is going to be

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Speaker 2: pursuing an appeal, and he also just said this whole

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Speaker 2: you know, saga has been painful for everybody involved in it.

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Speaker 1: So, Ollie, in terms of that third charge, can you like,

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Speaker 1: what's going to happen now with that charge? Does it

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Speaker 1: sort of get thrown out? Does the prosecution have to

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Speaker 1: have a think about what they're going to sort of

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Speaker 1: do next.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there are probably a few options in terms of

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Speaker 2: what happens with that third charge. You know, there's a

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Speaker 2: possibility it could be brought back, or it could just

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Speaker 2: sort of be essentially just dismissed. You know, it may

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Speaker 2: not go anywhere, but there's not really any clarity on

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Speaker 2: where that's going to happen for now. And of course

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Speaker 2: the jury has been discharged, so you know, it's not

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Speaker 2: as though we're still waiting to sort of have a

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Speaker 2: verdict on it. Yes, Yeah, a bit of a wait

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Speaker 2: and see.

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Speaker 1: Now in terms of you touched on this a moment

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Speaker 1: ago that Matt Writ's obviously indicated that he's going to

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Speaker 1: appeal the decision. When does that matter return to court

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Speaker 1: and when are we sort of expecting him to be sentenced?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? So this is all you know, it's the creaking

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Speaker 2: wheels of justing Katie. It's all takes a very long time.

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Speaker 2: But Madam will be back in court in October. You know,

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Speaker 2: we could be hearing sentencing submissions at that time. And then,

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Speaker 2: of course it'll be some time before a sentence is

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Speaker 2: handed down, possibly quite a few weeks, if not even

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Speaker 2: a few months potentially before we hear about that. And

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Speaker 2: that's obviously on counts one and two. And then in

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Speaker 2: terms of an appeal, you know, how long is a

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Speaker 2: piece of sturing that could take, you know, quite a

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Speaker 2: bit of time for an appeal to get processed through

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Speaker 2: the courts. But yeah, I hope you know, we're looking

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Speaker 2: at sentencing probably in the next couple of weeks or months.

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Speaker 1: And Ollie, I understand that there there was some discussion

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Speaker 1: about whether a custodial sentence will be served or you know,

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Speaker 1: what happens next. I guess a bit like not knowing

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Speaker 1: you know, when it's how long the appeal is going

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Speaker 1: to take. Nobody really knows what sentence is going to

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Speaker 1: be delivered, but all eyes will be on that decision.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. The prosecution were, you know, fairly firm about

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Speaker 2: their intentions to be pushing for a term of imprisonment.

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Speaker 2: You know, here's Matt wright's been on bail throughout these proceedings,

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Speaker 2: coming and going from the courtroom every day, and as

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Speaker 2: soon as that verdict was handed down, the prosecution oppose

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Speaker 2: bail even at that early stage, so it's clear that

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Speaker 2: their intention is to push for that, you know, for

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Speaker 2: that sort of a penalty, but of course that what

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Speaker 2: he actually ends up having to serve remains to be seen.

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Speaker 1: Lollie, we'll all keep a very close eye on it.

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Speaker 1: You've done a tremendous job over the last few weeks,

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Speaker 1: and you've also been part of this of the podcast,

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Speaker 1: The Case of the Croc Wrangler. Can people still listen

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Speaker 1: to that if they want to hear some of the

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes info that they might have missed over

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Speaker 1: recent weeks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie. Definitely. It's available on all of the

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Speaker 2: ABC Listen app and everywhere you get your podcasts, and

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Speaker 2: it sort of goes through a bit of the nitty

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Speaker 2: gritty of this whole this whole case, and we've got

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Speaker 2: new episodes coming out about you know what the jury

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Speaker 2: didn't hear, answering some answering, some more questions. It's been

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Speaker 2: a very complex trial, so plenty to sort of unpack.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, has I mean, has there been quite a bit

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Speaker 1: that the jury didn't hear, Ollie?

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Speaker 2: I mean, there always is, Katie. You know, these trials,

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Speaker 2: you can really only talk about what is happening in

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Speaker 2: front of a jury. But you know, as many Territorians

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Speaker 2: will know, this is a story that stretches far beyond

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Speaker 2: what happened in the courtroom over the last few weeks.

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Speaker 2: This has been something that's been unfolding for years. So

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Speaker 2: there's so much to be able to talk about and

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Speaker 2: unpick with it. So yeah, certainly, certainly plenty more to

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Speaker 2: talk about.

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Speaker 1: Well, oli Anna Luthurus, ABC News Journalists really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for joining us on

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Speaker 1: the show.

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Speaker 2: Pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Katie, thank

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Speaker 2: you