In 2009 Sean published a book, Before We Say Goodbye, which described the three months he spent in New Zealand with his mother before she died. His book revealed that, at the request of his terminally-ill mother, a medical doctor, he gave her crushed morphine tablets in a glass of water to end her suffering. As a consequence of this he was arrested and went on trial for the attempted murder of his mother. Sean’s trial ignited debate on voluntary euthanasia in both South Africa and New Zealand. In 2011, while awaiting his trial, he founded the organisation DignitySA which seeks to change the law in South Africa to allow for voluntary euthanasia.