Sean Plunket is Charged & Will Appear In Court in May

"Sean Plunket has been charged with publishing identifiable Family Court documents without the leave of the court" reported The Herald.

Hi,

58-year-old Sean Plunket was once a semi-respected New Zealand broadcaster, working across an array of networks including TV3, TVNZ and Radio New Zealand.

But over the pandemic he appears to have gotten brainworms, and after leaving his last “mainstream” media role (documented here on Webworm), Sean founded online station The Platform, where he screams about being fiercely independent while being backed by secretive multi-millionaire Wayne Wright.

When Sean’s not broadcasting, he’s on Twitter praising Elon Musk, fanboying over Tucker Carlson, or typing the word “woke” in response to anything not stale, old or white.

There is also an obsessive, underlying darkness in Sean’s work over the last few years. Most recently, he’s spent a great deal of his time bullying Young New Zealander of the Year, Shaneel Lal.

Shaneel, the first transgender person to win a New Zealander of the Year award, recently said Sean tweeted at them “for months” after winning the award.

I have also had Sean tweet obsessively about me, something I documented here on Webworm:

When Sean shared those family court documents, Sean had also shared the suppressed names of those involved.

Sean Plunket had shared confidential details of a Family Court case he had absolutely nothing to do with.

Sean was loving it — and on the same day I was served by the two police officers, he tweeted portions of the document again:

To cap it all off, Sean Plunket also somehow knew the police had been to my house — and at 3.08am on November 5, he tweeted about that as well. 

You can read that whole story here.

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So that’s Sean Plunket, who interestingly popped up in the news in New Zealand yesterday, as reported by The Herald, Stuff, and his former workplace RNZ:

Like all of those news outlets, Webworm cannot report details of the charges, including the specifics of what they’re about. Webworm cannot even report what case Sean has been charged twice over.

With that in mind, this is what The New Zealand Herald’s Open Justice journalist Ethan Griffiths reported:

Broadcaster Sean Plunket charged with court document breach

Well-known broadcaster Sean Plunket has been charged with publishing identifiable Family Court documents without the leave of the court.

Oliver Sean Plunket, 58, was scheduled to appear in the Wellington District Court this morning, but his appearance was adjourned to next month. He is yet to enter a plea.

According to charging documents, Plunket is charged with two counts of publishing a report of Family Court proceedings identifying a vulnerable person.

Under the Family Court Act, any person may publish a report of proceedings of the court but that report cannot identify any person under 18 or deemed by the court to be “vulnerable”.

The term “report” includes news articles, social media posts or other written publications.

Both charges carry a maximum penalty of three months imprisonment or a $2000 fine.

Plunket is the editor and founder of The Platform, an independent media company with an emphasis on debate and free speech.

Previously, Plunket was a co-host of RNZ’s Morning Report programme, and had stints as a host on Radio Live, Newstalk ZB and Magic Talk.

I wonder how the court decides whether something is a $2000 fine or three months in prison? Coin toss?

As with all things Sean Plunket, I will watch with interest.

As always, thanks for the support.

David.