Repeat N.L. sex offender Matthew Twyne sentenced again after stern reprimand from judge
CBC
A repeat sex offender was rebuked Thursday in a St. John's provincial courtroom for continuously breaching his release orders, with the presiding judge handing down a sentence of one year and two months for his most recent violations.
Matthew Twyne, who was arrested in August after being caught loitering near two Mount Pearl playgrounds by an off-duty police officer, pleaded guilty to three counts related to breaching his probation conditions.
He was previously arrested in October 2019 for exposing himself to two women on a Long Pond walking trail, on Memorial University's campus — three days after being released for a previous indecent exposure conviction, when he exposed his genitals to a person under 16 in 2017.
Judge Lori Marshall spoke sternly to Twyne at Thursday's sentencing, rattling off a string of sex offences since 2013.
"That's just going back a few years," Marshall noted, adding that his crimes stretch back "well into the early 2000s."
Twyne has also breached his probation or release orders a total of 24 times in the last eight years, and has more than 100 convictions. He has been diagnosed with several mental illnesses.
Marshall noted that Twyne had participated in voluntary programming while imprisoned, and said his social worker submitted that Twyne had encountered significant difficulty finding housing and settling into a community, given fears from the public that he would reoffend.
She also noted that that programming did not appear to be working.
"I understand you're trying to work with your support people," she said. "However, there still remains the issue that you seem to be incapable of complying with your [release conditions].… There is absolutely no reason why a grown man needs to go to a playground."
Crown prosecutor Robin Singleton suggested a total sentence of 395 days for Twyne's most recent breaches in August, which Marshall accepted without hesitation, telling Twyne his continued behaviour constituted "thumbing your nose at court orders."
"I don't know what counselling is going to help you with that," she said.
Marshall noted she had last sentenced Twyne to seven months, which "obviously did nothing to deter [him]."
With time served since August, Twyne will remain behind bars until July, and is banned from being in any public place where children may be present on his release, including near playgrounds, public parks and schools.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.