‘Smelly’ Tully stalker and child predator Shawn Michael Pinnel Chynoweth, 31, guilty

A Tully man and convicted child predator has sensationally sacked his legal team on the final day of his trial before being found guilty of stalking twin sisters and one of their partners, having spent “hours” outside their home almost every day for more than a year.

Shawn Michael Pinnell Chynoweth pleaded not guilty to three charges of stalking as his trial began on Monday June 9. He is accused of stalking a pair of twins and a partner. Photo: Instagram

A Tully man and convicted child predator has sensationally sacked his legal team on the final day of his trial before being found guilty of stalking twin sisters and one of their partners, having spent “hours” outside their home almost every day for more than a year.

Last week a Cairns jury found Shawn Michael Pinnell Chynoweth, 31, guilty of three counts of stalking after he terrorised a pair of 20-year-old twin women and one of their boyfriends over the course of more than a year.

On Wednesday, the twins’ mother and police officers gave evidence to the court.

The mother told the court her daughters had alerted her about Chynoweth and pointed him out from their Tully home while she was visiting.

“She said ‘look outside the toilet window, he is there now,’” she said.

“He was there in his normal spot. They would see him almost every day.”

She said her daughters’ behaviour had changed after they told her about Chynoweth.

“She was very nervous, always looking around. She was not her usual self,” she said.

“She was never home alone. I would stay with her or she would stay at my house because she was scared he might do something.”

Shawn Michael Pinnell Chynoweth pleaded not guilty to three charges of stalking as his trial began on Monday June 9. He is accused of stalking a pair of twins and a partner. Photo: Instagram

She told the court there were two occasions when she was shopping with her daughter that he followed them into stores and watched them.

“You could smell him, it was quite unpleasant,” she said.

“She said ‘oh yeah, he doesn’t shower and I think he wears the same clothes.’

“He smiled at us, it was creepy as. My daughter was frightened. I was trying to protect her.”

Before being sacked by Chynoweth on the final day of the trial, his defence counsel Kate Fuller said several details “were not in contest,” including that he would often spend time at a public park bench near where the twins lived.

She argued it was “curious” the complaint only emerged after a “serious assault against the defendant” and claimed Chynoweth was the one being harassed and photographed.

Police officers also gave evidence on Wednesday, identifying hours of CCTV footage which showed Chynoweth sitting in a dark shirt and pants at the park bench across from the twins’ apartment, where he was later arrested.

The jury found Chynoweth guilty on all three charges and he was sentenced by Judge Ken Barlow KC to 18 months imprisonment to be served concurrently with a previous sentence.

Chynoweth was previously sentenced in December 2023 to four years imprisonment after he was convicted of two charges of using the internet to procure a minor under the age of 16, one charge of using the internet to procure a minor under the age 16, and one of making child exploitation material.

During his trial on those charges, the court heard Chynoweth told an online account that he believed to be a 14-year-old girl: “I like collecting girls a bit like a harem,” but suggested they meet up when she turns 16.

He told them he wanted “to get them pregnant” and that he would wait until the babies “become sexy” when they turn one before having sex with them.

Originally published as ‘Smelly’ Tully stalker and child predator Shawn Michael Pinnel Chynoweth, 31, guilty