A witness has been accused of lying to protect reality TV star Matt Wright from accusations he tried to cover up evidence following a fatal helicopter crash.
The Outback Wrangler star is on trial in Darwin Supreme Court having pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The charges follow a crash in February 2022 that killed Wright's friend and co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson on a crocodile-egg collecting mission in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land.
Pilot Sebastian Robinson, 32, was left a paraplegic.
Prosecutors allege Wright was worried investigators would learn his choppers' flying-hour meters were regularly disconnected to extend flying hours beyond official thresholds and that paperwork was falsified.
In court on Wednesday Tim Johnston, a manager at Wright's company Helibrook, was accused by crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC of lying about a visit he made to Mr Robinson in hospital days after the crash.
Mr Johnston earlier told the jury he had been asked by Wright's friend Jai Tomlinson to pick up items from Mr Robinson's family at the hospital but he had not been told what they were.
Mr Johnston met Mr Robinson's mother, Noelene Chellingworth, in ICU and was given the pilot's diary and a flight maintenance document by one of her sons, but not a phone which he had asked if he could take as well.
He said he left the ICU and rang Wright to report he had seen Mr Robinson, who was "not in a good way".
When he told him he had Mr Robinson's diary Wright got "very irate", Mr Johnston said.
"I know when Matt gets irate and he was at 11 out of 10 that day," he said.
"He told me that I've done the wrong thing and I need to get it back up to Noelene."
He said he hung up on Wright and called Ms Chellingworth and arranged to return the diary straight away.
But Mr Gullaci put it to Mr Johnston he was lying and had in fact been asked by Wright to collect Mr Robinson's pilot logbook, a maintenance release form and his phone.
He said the evidence of Ms Chellingworth and her sons was that she called Mr Johnston and demanded he return the diary, which he did.
"Are you still prepared to tell lies for Mr Wright? Mr Gullaci said.
"I have not lied," Mr Johnston replied.
Mr Gullaci accused Mr Johnston of wanting to protect Wright at any cost and had been asked by the TV star to fetch the phone so he could delete and hide flying hour entries.
Mr Johnston denied that, saying, "I'm telling you the truth".
The jury heard after returning the diary to Ms Chellingworth he took the crashed chopper's maintenance release to Wright in Darwin.
The court earlier was told Wright offered $10,000 to Mr Robinson's family but they had declined the offer.
Ms Chellingworth was questioned about her diary entries in the weeks after the crash, agreeing she had recorded Wright offering her the $10,000 to "tide her over" and pay bills.
"We told him we didn't want it," she said.
One of her diary entries made when she was with her son in Royal Brisbane Hospital read: "Matt Wright came in today and tried to persuade Sebastian to put hours on his helicopter".
Senior defence counsel David Edwardson KC put it to Ms Chellingworth she had added diary entries to support her claims in court, which she denied.
She disagreed with Mr Edwardson's accusation she falsely alleged Wright had wanted Mr Robinson to transfer flying hours from the crashed chopper onto the pilot's helicopter.
The charges against Wright do not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution does not allege he is responsible for the crash, Mr Wilson's death or Mr Robinson's injuries.
