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How Jason Day’s deranged golf psychology coach, the world’s number one — dubbed the “king of the kids” — used his brain-melting tricks to groom a gifted youngster and indecently assault her
- Sean Patrick Lynch was a star mind coach for top golfers including Jason Day
- Court heard he used his psychological knowledge to groom a gifted young player
- Lynch was nicknamed the ‘king of kids’ for his job, but indecently attacked the youngster
- He was accused of committing multiple indecent acts from 2017 to 2019
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A successful mind coach, Sean Patrick Lynch worked with people like the former number 1 golfer in the world, Jason Day.
But Lynch also used his skills to nurture a gifted young golfer, the Brisbane District Court has heard.
Lynch, 68, was dubbed “king of the kids” and worked as a golf mentor in Queensland.
However, as a mind coach, the court heard that Lynch was also capable of manipulating a girl into starting a “secret relationship” and convincing her not to share it with anyone, including her family.
“He’s a successful mind coach (with) Jason Day, all these people we’ve heard about,” Crown Prosecutor Chris Cook told the jury during the two-week trial.
“He was able to manipulate the mind of (the girl) not to tell her family about it.
Successful mind coach Sean Patrick Lynch used his skills to nurture a talented young golfer
“She said nothing because she trusted that everything Mr. Lynch did was in her best interest.”
During an alleged incident, Lynch told her that “he was glad it stopped, but that it would help her play golf so much”.
Lynch was accused of gaining the girl’s trust before engaging in multiple indecent acts from April 2017 to December 2019.
Lynch exchanged text messages and phone calls with the girl, turned to “dirty talk” and showed her pornography, Mr Cook said.
Sometimes she even stayed at his home in Brisbane with his family in a downstairs guest room.
A series of texts between Lynch and the girl were shown in the courtroom.
In one conversation, the girl described something as “just beautiful” and Lynch replied “like you”.
When asked if this was an example of his grooming, Lynch described it as a “normal reaction.”
“To a 13-year-old girl?” asked Mr Cook.
“Yes, in my world,” Lynch replied.
The girl described Lynch as “sexy” in another text.
“At no point did you tell her that this is an inappropriate conversation between a 60-year-old man and a 13-year-old child?” asked Mr Cook.
“No,” Lynch said.
The girl finally went to the police in December 2019 after confiding in her family in tears.
“She cried her eyes out,” the girl’s grandfather told the court.
“She did say… Sean had made her say it was her fault, so she was afraid to come and tell her family.”
She called Lynch after speaking to police who recorded the phone call.
A fragment of the appeal was played before the jury in which the girl asked if Lynch could remember any of the indecent acts.
“We didn’t go too far with that. I was weak … everything that happened, we can just forget about all those things,” Lynch said.
The girl replied in tears, “But I can’t.”
Lynch pleaded not guilty to 11 charges.
Sean Patrick Lynch teamed up with former world number 1 golfer Jason Day
The jury, which began deliberating Thursday morning, found Lynch guilty on five charges of indecent treatment of a child under 16 under supervision.
He was also found guilty of grooming and one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
Four of the guilty verdicts were by majority vote after the jury was returned for further deliberation late Friday afternoon.
However, Lynch was found not guilty of possession of child exploitation material and three additional charges of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
He will be sentenced in November by Judge Vicki Loury.