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Speaker 1: Jurors in the Matte Wright criminal trial were earlier this

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Speaker 1: week warn not to get caught up in the emotion

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Speaker 1: of the tragic fatal accident or to be swayed by

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Speaker 1: the saturation of media coverage on the case. Now we

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Speaker 1: know that Jason Galachi sc delivered his closing address yesterday,

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Speaker 1: the defense expected to do theirs today. Joining us on

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Speaker 1: the line, Sky News Bureau Chief for the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham, Good morning.

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Speaker 2: Matt, Morning, Kay, Matt.

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Speaker 1: What's happened over the last day or so?

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Speaker 2: Well, Matt Wright and his legal team have just arrived

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Speaker 2: this morning ahead of the defense's closing arguments to the jury,

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Speaker 2: which will happen this morning. Over the past day and

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Speaker 2: a half or so, we've heard the prosecution giving its

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Speaker 2: closing arguments, So the Crown prosecuted Jason Glashi is basically

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Speaker 2: outlined again to the jury the Crown's case and argued

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Speaker 2: why the prosecution believes Matt Right to be found guilty

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Speaker 2: on these three charges of attempting to pervert the course

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Speaker 2: of justice. He basically, over the past day and a

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Speaker 2: half took the jury through the prosecution's case and the

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Speaker 2: background to the case. So essentially that is that Matt

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Speaker 2: Wright's company, Hallybrook, which owned the helicopter that was involved

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Speaker 2: in this crash, had been under recording the flying hours

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Speaker 2: of that machine. It's a practice that the court has

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Speaker 2: heard with pated League is common in the Northern Territories

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Speaker 2: aviation industry, and it's done by disconnecting what's known as

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Speaker 2: the Hobbs Meet that records the helicopter's hours. So the

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Speaker 2: prosecution alleges that Matt Wright knew that this helicopter involved

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Speaker 2: in the crash. If it had had it two hours

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Speaker 2: recorded properly, it would have exceeded twenty two hundred hours.

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Speaker 2: And that's the point at which a helicopter liked the

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Speaker 2: one involved in the crash, an R forty four Robinson Raven,

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Speaker 2: needs to be either retired or completely overhauled, and that

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Speaker 2: costs about four to five hundred thousand dollars. So the

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Speaker 2: prosecution alleges that Matt Wright knew that was the case,

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Speaker 2: and that when the helicopter crashed, he set about trying

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Speaker 2: to cover up that fact from investigators, and that's why

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Speaker 2: he's facing these three charges of attempting to pervert the

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Speaker 2: course of juxtae Ja I think Lartie took the jury

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Speaker 2: through each of the first charges, each of the three charges.

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Speaker 2: So the first one is an allegation that matt Wright

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Speaker 2: liked to police in a statement he gave them an

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Speaker 2: oral stat Decky gave three days after the crash when

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Speaker 2: he said that there was half a tank of fuel

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Speaker 2: in the helicopter. And then he subsequently took the jury

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Speaker 2: to recorded conversations that matt Wright had with his wife

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Speaker 2: Kaya and others where he had been secretly recorded saying

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Speaker 2: there was no fuel in the helicopter. So that's basically

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Speaker 2: the substance of the first charge. The second charge relates

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Speaker 2: to the allegations that he went to the Brisbane hospital

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Speaker 2: where the pilots of Asian Robinson was recovering on the

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Speaker 2: eleventh and the thirteenth of March and tried to get

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Speaker 2: him to falsify documents relating to id W, which is

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Speaker 2: a helicopter involved in that crash. And then the third

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Speaker 2: charge relates to allegations that he told his friend Jai

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Speaker 2: Tomlinson to destroy the maintenance release, which is the official

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Speaker 2: documentation relating to that helicopter that was involved in the crash. Now,

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Speaker 2: that third charge relies on secretly recorded conversations that were

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Speaker 2: taken at Matt Wright's home after police put a recording

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Speaker 2: device there. The prosecutor, Jason Glacier, conceded that the quality

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Speaker 2: of the recordings was not great, but he said to

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Speaker 2: the jury, basically, if you can make out in those

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Speaker 2: recordings the words quote just torture, all the words just

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Speaker 2: burn the see you next Tuesday, then you should find

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Speaker 2: then then they should find Matt guilty. Matt right guilty

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Speaker 2: on that third charge. He wrapped up his closing argument

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Speaker 2: yesterday by saying that the prosecution's case was that Matt

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Speaker 2: Wright should be found guilty on all three of those charges. Today,

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Speaker 2: we'll hear from David Edwardson Casey. So Matt writes barrister,

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Speaker 2: Now he is going to argue that Matt Wright should

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Speaker 2: be acquitted on all pre charges. That's expected to take

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Speaker 2: two hours this morning, Katie or thereabouts. We'll then hear

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Speaker 2: the closing remarks from the judge, his final instructions to

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Speaker 2: the jury, and then we'll hear the jury retire. Now. Interestingly,

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Speaker 2: yesterday we heard the judge say that the jury could

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Speaker 2: potentially sit until six pm today, and so there is

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Speaker 2: a possibility we might get a verdict very late this afternoon.

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Speaker 2: Otherwise they're back. Otherwise they're back tomorrow. And he's even

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Speaker 2: flagged the judge even flagged the possibility yesterday that the

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Speaker 2: jury could sit well into the evening tomorrow when it

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Speaker 2: comes to reaching his verdict, and even sit on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: If they don't reach avertict by Friday night, it.

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Speaker 1: Just depends how quickly they come to that verdict.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right, That's exactly right. So but all expectations

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Speaker 2: are is that the jury will go out this afternoon

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Speaker 2: after the defense has put its case and put its

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Speaker 2: closing arguments to the jury, and then the final instructions

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Speaker 2: have come from the judge.

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Speaker 1: That is it usual for the prosecution to sort of

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Speaker 1: take quite a long time in their closing address and

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Speaker 1: then you know, and then the defense really flagging that

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Speaker 1: they're on these sort of going to be a couple

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Speaker 1: of hours.

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Speaker 2: Look to be honest with you, Katie, I haven't sat

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Speaker 2: in that many criminal trials, so I'm not an expert

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Speaker 2: on things. I don't think it's unusual from what I

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Speaker 2: can gather, but certainly what's happening here by the time

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Speaker 2: the prosecutor finished it, gone for almost a day and

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Speaker 2: a half, certainly a day and a bit, and the

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Speaker 2: defense's flagged that he can take about two hours this morning.

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Speaker 1: Well that interesting, so no doubt we'll be talking to

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Speaker 1: you again in the very near future. Thank you as

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Speaker 1: always for your help and thanks for all your coverage

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Speaker 1: on this case and helping us out with it.

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Speaker 2: No worries JU guys.

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Speaker 1: Thanks mate,