Sunday Night this week has stories on protecting children from predators, Jerry Hall and a man who is alive despite being declared dead.
PROTECTING AUSSIE KIDS Imagine not knowing your family is living next door to a predator. In Australia this is a reality, but around the world it is a baffling concept. Sarah Monahan was the child star of the hit 80’s comedy show Hey Dad. But what millions of viewers never realised was that behind the smile, little Sarah was allegedly being sexually abused. Next year, more than 25 years later, one of her adult co-stars will stand trial charged with molesting her. These days Sarah is backing a campaign to protect all Australian children from predators with remarkable technology that is already freely available in the US yet illegal in Australia. In this special Sunday Night major investigation, Derryn Hinch – once jailed for naming two convicted sexual predators – reunites with Sarah to discover how the technology works. For Derryn this is a personal mission – he shared the television studio next door to where Sarah was allegedly abused and wishes he could have done something back then. America and the UK have legislation that gives parents the right to know about convicted pedophiles living near them. Throughout Australia convicted sex offenders are entitled to anonymity – laws forbid the public from knowing if a convicted pedophile moves in next door. In his report, Hinch visits the most dangerous place in the world for children – a Florida caravan park that is the home to more than 100 sex offenders. What he finds there, and what the residents tell him, will make you question why Australia is doing so little to protect vulnerable children.
MELBOURNE’S MIRACLE: DEAD MAN WALKING Daniel Huf is a man with a second chance at life. A man literally back from the dead. When he flipped his dream Porsche at high speed on April Fool’s Day last year on the freeway outside Melbourne, Daniel was killed instantly. Three ambulance paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. His body was cut out of the wreckage and left under a tarpaulin on the side of the road. He had no pulse. Over an hour after the accident the undertaker arrived to collect his corpse, but when it came time to put Daniel in the body bag something happened that no-one can explain. Daniel, who had sustained extensive head injuries, was suddenly breathing. The ambulance was recalled, and he was rushed to hospital. A year later he is back at work, back behind the wheel, and wondering why he was spared. In his amazing report, Alex Cullen interviews the fire captain who dragged Daniel’s lifeless body from the wreckage; he interviews the undertaker who had issued Daniel the Coroner’s tag of death. No-one can explain how Daniel came back from the dead, but his father – a Lutheran Minister – is convinced the answer lies in the giant cross overlooking the crash site. Was this a medical miracle or a second chance from God?
JERRY HALL On holiday in the French Riviera, a glamorous, sun-kissed Jerry Hall looks better than ever. At 57, she’s a testament to good genes and natural beauty. It’s a far cry from her humble upbringings, born into a poor Texan family and living with an unstable father. Discovered by a modeling agent at an early age, Hall was soon dating rock stars, and famously left Bryan Ferry for Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger. Their decades-long partnership produced four children, but it had its downsides, as Hall dishes the dirt on Jagger and talks about standing by her man through many highly publicised extramarital affairs. Now, she’s enjoying life unattached, happily dating and embracing acting once more. Her current role? The man-eating Mrs Robinson in the stage production of The Graduate, a character she relishes.
Sunday, September 8 on Channel Seven following The X Factor