Hey Dad! troll who targeted star Sarah Monahan charged

HEY Dad! star Sarah Monahan has spoken of her anguish at being hounded by an internet troll and told of her relief that police had made an arrest.

Sarah Monahan said the man’s posts and behaviour brought “horrible flashbacks”.

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HEY Dad! star Sarah Monahan has spoken of her anguish at being hounded by an internet troll and told of her relief that police had made an arrest.

The former child actor was targeted by a man who plagued her public Facebook page saying her abusive co-star Robert Hughes should never have been jailed.

Speaking from her Florida home, Monahan, 39, asked: “When will I ever be able to put Hughes behind me?

Convicted Robert Hughes holds Sarah Monahan on his lap during a Hey Dad! cast event.

“Just when I was finally happy and my husband and I moved to Florida to start life afresh do I get a crazy stalker.”

Monahan said she suffered devastating migraines during the eight weeks the man trolled her.

“It brought back horrible flashbacks,” she told The Saturday Telegraph.

A man was arrested in the Victorian city of Bendigo on Thursday after the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre investigated complaints.

The Australian Federal Police confirmed officers swooped after obtaining a warrant to search a Bendigo home.

An Australian man has been arrested for repeated instances of online harassment directed at former Hey Dad! star Sarah Monahan.

A 33-year-old was arrested and charged at the local police station with transmitting child exploitation material and harassment. He was bailed to appear at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court next Thursday.

Using Facebook handle Sydney Sex Fiend, the troll allegedly wrote: “I had a dream about you … Me, you and Robert Hughes playing Twister … and you winked at me …”

Hughes played Sarah’s on-screen father from 1987 to 1993 in the Australian sitcom.

He was sentenced in 2014 to a maximum of 10 years and nine months with a non-parole period of six years.

The actor was convicted on 10 of 11 child sex charges.

Robert Hughes was convicted for child molestation offences committed 26 years previously.