Mildura Magistrates’ Court: Sean Brown pleads guilty to stalking charges after calling Channel 9 reporter more than 300 times in a day

A Channel 9 journalist who was stalked by a man who featured in a story about elder abuse says “I’m scared to be alone in my own home”.

Sean Brown has pleaded guilty to three charges of stalking after sending a terrifying string of emails, calls and text messages to two women in 2022.

A Mildura man bombarded a female TV journalist with more than 300 phone calls in one day after the prime-time show ran a story accusing him of elderly abuse.

Sean Brown, 42, pleaded guilty in Mildura Magistrates’ Court on October 25 to three charges of stalking A Current Affair journalist Alexis Daish.

The court heard Brown was disgruntled after Daish ran a story accusing him of elderly abuse without his input, despite him failing to return their calls before it went to air.

The court heard Brown had been living with an elderly couple in Geelong in 2021 before the husband died, with wife, then 79, receiving a large sum of money.

Brown asked to borrow $40,000, promising to pay it back.

After months of chasing Brown for the money, the granddaughter of the elderly couple contacted Channel 9.

The court heard she made “several” attempts to contact Brown for the $40,000 before going to A Current Affair.

“He lived rent and bill free with my grandparents,” she said.

“In my attempts to reason with him, he told me to ‘do my worst’. That’s when I went to A Current Affair.”

Brown called Channel 9 reporter Alexis Daish more than 300 times in one evening in December 2022.

Before airing the story, Daish contacted Brown multiple times, but he never responded.

Following it’s screening, Brown repaid $30,000 to the elderly woman before sending the granddaughter more than 52 abusive emails.

She reported Brown to police and he was later arrested and an intervention order was put in place.

The court heard two days after the airing of the episode, Brown also sent emails to Daish, saying “thank you for ruining my career and life, I suppose I should kill myself”.

He also requested they remove the story and publicly apologise to him, denying the abuse and claiming the money was a gift the court heard.

Brown’s contact with Daish escalated in July, when he began contacting her via her mobile phone.

In text messages read to the court, Brown said, “Your journalism sucks, karma is what I’m counting on to move on”.

He continued texting her after this, on August 2 saying, “Thanks for destroying my life”.

Daish did not respond to his messages.

The court heard the contact took a more sinister turn on September 1, when Brown began calling Daish using a private number.

The court heard he called her a total of 105 times in one evening.

On November 22 a safety order was enforced for the three affected women which Brown disregarded, calling Daish a further 336 times on December 1.

Brown later made full admissions in interview, admitting the contact was “next level crazy”.

In victim impact statements read out to the court, both victims expressed how terrifying Brown’s harassment was.

The granddaughter told the court she wished he would “make peace with his hate”.

“I hope we never cross paths again,” she said.

Daish’s impact statement outlined the longer term impacts Brown’s harassment has had, recounting the day the offending escalated, saying Brown called her 33 times in 40 minutes, intermittently leaving voice messages, the court heard.

“You may think I’m just a reporter you see on TV and that my feelings don’t count,” she said.

“But to this day I’m scared to be alone in my own home. Any tiny noise sends me bolt upright.”

Magistrate Patrick Southey said Brown’s offending was not an “insignificant example of stalking”.

“Both victims have been badly affected,” he said.

“The communication from him is appalling.”

Mr Southey said he had to consider the impact a conviction would have on Brown’s future employment.

“You’ve been a good citizen until recently and a conviction might make it harder for you to get back on track and make a contribution to the community,” he said.

Brown was ordered to complete a 12-month community corrections order without conviction.

“Both victims have been very badly affected by your behaviour and these are serious charges,” Mr Southey said.

“A corrections order is one step short of jail. You can’t afford to mess up again.”