Richard Twomey encouraged a 14-year-old girl to take photographs of herself and offered to post them on OnlyFans for her.
Richard Twomey encouraged a 14-year-old girl to take photographs of herself and offered to post them on OnlyFans for her.
WARNING: This story contains details of indecent offending against a young person.
A registered child sex offender persistently offered a teen money to undress before indecently assaulting her.
It followed a series of incidents in which Richard Derek Kevin Twomey preyed on the victim, including by speaking to her about setting up an OnlyFans account, and offering to buy her lingerie.
Twomey continued with the offers, telling her she could take photographs of herself and that he would post them on OnlyFans for her.
While the 14-year-old declined, he persisted and offered her cannabis.
Twomey was at home, lying on his bed with his partner asleep beside him, when he wrote a note on his cellphone saying, “You could earn $50 if I could unzip your jeans”.
The victim was sitting on the ground nearby and he leant over and showed her the note. She said, “No, thank you”, and moved away from him.
Richard Twomey was sentenced to 26 months' imprisonment when he appeared in the Christchurch District Court this week.
He then grabbed her thigh. She asked him to let go as he moved his hands to the button on her jeans.
As she shifted away again, he moved towards her and tried to touch her thigh.
He moved beside her and showed her another note on his phone. This time it said: “$100 for undoing your bra?”
Twomey then told her he was going to do something to her and not to worry.
He placed his hand down the back of her top and attempted to grab her bra clip.
She moved again, and as she did, he grabbed her backside, prompting her to repeat, “No, thank you”.
Again, he showed her a note on his phone, asking if he could grab her thigh, as he placed his hand on her breast.
The teen asked Twomey to drop her off at a fast-food restaurant, where she was picked up by someone else. She refused to return to his house.
This week, Twomey appeared in the Christchurch District Court for sentencing on charges of doing an indecent act to a person under the age of 16, failing to comply with reporting conditions as a registrable offender, and failing to carry out obligations in relation to a computer system search.
The teen addressed Twomey through a victim impact statement read by Crown prosecutor Penny Brown.
She described how she could go from being happy to sad and angry at the thought of what Twomey had done to her.
“At times, I have been too scared to sleep, I have trust issues, my mental health is at its worst, I self-harm, I feel more disconnected from all the people who know.
“I am still wary about physical touch with others. I feel like the assault has made me feel depressed at times. Doctors say I could be suffering PTSD. I have distanced myself from all my friends.”
In her submissions, Brown said Twomey had exploited the teen’s vulnerability.
She was now nearly 18, and he had robbed her of relationships that should be enjoyable, Brown said.
Brown highlighted that Twomey had previous convictions for indecently assaulting a child and was a registered child sex offender.
His guilty pleas came only 10 days before the matter was to go to trial, she said, and he had a continued denial of attraction to young females and children.
Brown submitted that he was a high risk of reoffending.
Judge Katie Elkin said Twomey’s child sex offender registration would be continued as he was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment.
She said the offending involved premeditation and planning, the victim was vulnerable, and Twomey was persistent and had ignored the victim’s protests.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamata. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.
