Sean Davison first came to South Africa from New Zealand in 1991 to carry out scientific research at UCT. In 1994 he took up an academic post at UWC, where he is currently Professor in the Department of Biotechnology. In 2010 Sean published a book Before We Say Goodbye which described the three months he spent with his mother before she died. As a consequence of this he was arrested and went on trial for the attempted murder of his mother. During his high court trial in November 2011 he was offered a lesser charge of assisted suicide which he pleaded guilty to and was ordered to serve a five-month house arrest sentence in Dunedin, New Zealand. Sean Davison’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 the option of assisted dying for those suffering unbearably with no hope of recovering. In 2018 he was arrested and charged with the murder of Dr Anrich Burger, two additional murder charges followed. Following a plea bargain he was convicted of murder and received a three-year house arrest sentence which began on 19th June 2019.