Māngere bus stop murder: Jayden Cook beat man to death in Auckland, attacked two others

• Jayden Antonio Cook pleaded guilty to murder, grievous bodily harm, and assault after a violent attack.
• Cook’s attack at a Māngere Town Centre bus stop resulted in the death weeks later of one of his three victims.
• He pleaded guilty days before his trial was to begin.

After falling asleep at a South Auckland bus stop where he had spent the evening drinking heavily, rough sleeper Jayden Antonio Cook woke up and for unknown reasons began violently lashing out at all those around him.

The 26-year-old administered a beating to a 50-year-old acquaintance so severe the victim woke up from a concussion thinking he had been hit by a bus. Another man, 60, was hospitalised with a brain bleed and died several weeks later.

Cook pleaded guilty to murder less than a week before his High Court at Auckland trial was scheduled to begin last month. He also admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent to injure a second man and to assaulting his own brother, who was also homeless at the time.

Details of the offending are now public for the first time after court documents outlining the incident were released to the Herald this week.

Authorities say Cook had spent the evening of October 2, 2023, getting steadily more intoxicated as he drank boxes of alcohol at the Māngere Town Centre bus stop on Bader Drive with the victims.

“The occasion was unplanned but had involved the consumption of substantial amounts of alcohol and some cannabis,” the agreed summary of facts for the case states.

Police investigate the scene on Bader Drive in Māngere in October 2023 in which Jayden Cook attacked three men, resulting in a fatal brain bleed for one of the victims. He has pleaded guilty to murder. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Mitchell Wawatai, the 50-year-old, was described as “stumbling around” and so intoxicated that a town centre security guard stopped him from boarding a bus. Cook woke up as that was happening and immediately became aggressive towards the guard, causing him to flee.

Talini Manu, the 60-year-old who would later die, then “engaged in some form of disagreement with the defendant, causing him to become annoyed”, documents state.

Cook shifted his focus on Manu and started to approach him but two of the defendant’s brothers stepped in between the pair and pulled Cook away.

“At this point, the defendant had become enraged,” documents state. “He removed his shirt and strode around the bus shelters bare-chested, looking for a fight.”

In the confused moments that followed, the 50-year-old attempted to grab one of the defendant’s brothers and was pushed to the ground. The defendant then began delivering punches and “hard kicks” to the other man’s face and torso until a brother managed to “wrestle” him away.

Police investigate the scene on Bader Drive in Māngere in October 2023 in which Jayden Cook attacked three men, resulting in a fatal brain bleed for one of the victims. He has pleaded guilty to murder. Photo / Hayden Woodward

“As a result, Mr Wawatai lay bleeding and unconscious on the ground for a period of minutes,” court documents state, adding that the victim was able to briefly stand up before stumbling and falling to the kerb, “head-butting the road as a result”.

“This knocked Mr Wawatai unconscious again for a brief period, after which he managed to sit himself up until he was attended to by ambulance staff when they arrived,” documents state. “He was so disoriented he thought he had been hit by a bus.”

While Wawatai was still struggling with his head injury, Cook broke free from his brother’s grip and focused his aggression again on Manu. Police described Manu, who also went by the name Billy Salapo, as vulnerable and unable to run away due to his intoxication.

“The defendant punched Mr Manu three times using both fists,” the agreed facts state. “The defendant used full force with boxing style punches which were aimed at Mr Manu’s head. These punches knocked Mr Manu to the ground and rendered him unconscious.

“While Mr Manu was unconscious on the ground, the defendant stood over him and stomped down hard on his head and body area approximately 10 times. Mr Manu lay bleeding and unconscious with serious life-threatening injuries.”

Police investigate the scene on Bader Drive in in which Jayden Cook attacked three men, resulting in a fatal brain bleed for one of the victims. He has pleaded guilty to murder. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Doctors at Auckland Hospital would later assess his injuries to include traumatic brain injury, multiple skull and face fractures that required surgery, a broken jaw, multiple other broken bones and a swollen airway that required intubation for about two weeks.

He remained in the intensive care unit for 16 days, but after his removal his condition again deteriorated and he died on October 30, 2023. The cause of death was found to be complications from blunt force head trauma.

The final victim on the night of the attacks was his brother, Jarrod Cook, who was punched repeatedly as he went to check on Manu when he was unconscious. The defendant’s brother did not retaliate.

Eventually, documents state, “the defendant’s rage abated”. Police would later find him sitting on the stairs behind the bus stop.

He is set for sentencing in May.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

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