ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — He said nothing when he made a quick appearance in court late Tuesday afternoon, but Matthew Twyne had some choice words for reporters as he was leaving.
“You can shove that camera up your ass, c---suckers,” he said as sheriffs escorted him back to the cells at provincial court in St. John’s.
Twyne, 33, was in court exactly a week ago, when he was released from prison after serving a full two-and-a-half-year sentence for exposing his genitals to children, carrying a weapon and other crimes.
The RNC successfully applied to have Twyne restricted by court orders in an effort to prevent him from committing a sexual offence, saying they had reason to believe he would reoffend. A judge imposed 29 strict conditions on Twyne’s release, including that he stay away from the area around Memorial University, among other places.
It was in that area — near Long Pond, which is next to the Fluvarium on one side and MUN on the other — that Twyne was arrested at lunchtime Friday, two days after his release from prison.
Twyne has been charged with two counts of breaching his conditions, and has indicated he plans to seek bail. With the court busy Tuesday after the Thanksgiving weekend, Twyne’s bail hearing was postponed until Thursday morning.
In the meantime, the RNC issued a news release Tuesday asking for the public’s assistance with an investigation into an indecent act that allegedly happened near Long Pond around the time of Twyne’s arrest.
"He is a poor but hopefully not impossible candidate for rehabilitation and he’s a danger to the public.” — Judge Mike Madden
Twyne is not named in the release, but is believed to be a suspect.
Police are hoping to speak with anyone who may have witnessed the crime and are asking them to call 729-8000 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Twyne, who has been ordered to be listed on the national sex offender registry for life, has a criminal record of 20 pages, dating almost 15 years and including convictions for assault with a weapon, making threats, a break-in, thefts and multiple breaches of court orders. It also includes six prior convictions for indecent acts, in Corner Brook, Stephenville and St. John’s. For the first of those, in 2005, Twyne earned a three-week jail sentence. The most recent, in May 2017, earned him 408 days behind bars.
In that case, Twyne went to a dance school on Lemarchant Road in St. John’s and looked in a change room where children age 14 to 16 were gathered. He was told to leave twice, but came back both times, at one point pressing his bare penis against a glass window. A dance teacher recorded part of the crime on her phone.
When he was arrested, Twyne was found to be intoxicated and carrying a hunting knife.
Sentencing Twyne, provincial court Judge Mike Madden had noted Twyne’s guilty pleas, but also his lengthy record. The judge called Twyne dangerous.
“I find that he has little insight into his problem,” Madden had said, adding Twyne had not taken full advantage of the counselling he had been offered. “He is a poor but hopefully not impossible candidate for rehabilitation and he’s a danger to the public.”
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
