Michael Cook was sentenced to more than two years prison at the Levin District Court for grooming a 14-year-old girl. Photo / Facebook
WARNING: This story discusses the grooming of a child
A 14-year-old girl with the mental age of an 8-year-old had seen her mother and sister get married and it was all she wanted for herself.
It was this desire for a normal life, combined with her learning disability, that 47-year-old Michael Cook exploited when he began grooming her.
“The defendant played on this and nursed her innocence to his benefit,” the girl’s mother told a courtroom on Wednesday afternoon.
“I believe he played on her learning disability.”
The woman, whom NZME can’t name to protect the victim’s identity, said her daughter’s dreams of marriage and having a family were shattered and she still believed there was the potential for a relationship with Cook.
Because of this, the girl has refused to co-operate with police and detail the extent of her relationship with the older man.
Cook was arrested in August last year after police were alerted to extensive cellphone communications between him and the 14-year-old.
These communications encompassed phone calls, voice recordings, pictures and text messages where Cook repeatedly referred to the girl as “my very sexy baby”.
Cook was bailed and almost immediately acquired a second cellphone to continue contacting the victim with the content of those messages becoming increasingly sexualised.
“You know you make me sooo [sic] horny every time I see you aye my love,” one message from Cook reads. He also requested the victim send him pictures of herself.
The pair met in Foxton in August and three more times in September, all while Cook was on bail and facing charges of indecent communication with a young person. Their communications become increasingly graphic with Cook describing in detail what kind of sexual interaction he would like to have with the victim.
The summary of facts notes the girl’s mother drove her to Foxton to meet with Cook each time. She told the court during her victim impact statement she believed their relationship was innocent and that Cook was acting as a support person for her daughter.
Once Cook’s offending on bail was discovered he was arrested and remanded in custody in October last year.
But his attempts to contact the victim didn’t stop.
The victim’s mother handed over two letters to the Levin Police Station, addressed to her daughter from Cook who had sent them from inside prison.
The first was 35 pages long and notes how “completely head over heels in love he is with her [the victim]”.
“Can’t wait until we don’t have to worry about what anyone says or thinks and we can get on with our lives the way we want with no worries,” an excerpt from that letter reads.
He also repeatedly refers to the victim as “my very sexy angel queen fiance”.
A second letter – this time 63 pages long – was also written to the victim from prison and contained similar comments.
“It is a shame that people out there don’t know how our connection works without jumping or assuming the wrong things,” Cook’s letter reads.
Crown Prosecutor Grace Duncan said Cook’s offending while on bail and subsequently from behind bars made it more serious.
“It’s significantly aggravating that the letters from prison were sent after he’d twice been arrested for communicating with the victim,” she said.
“He knew full well what he was doing and chose to do it anyway.”
Cook appeared at the Levin District Court for sentencing on Wednesday for four charges of indecent communication with a young person, grooming for sexual contact and meeting with a young person following grooming.
He’d pleaded guilty to those charges in October last year and this week Judge Stephanie Edwards sentenced him to two years and three months in prison. Cook will also be added to the sex offender’s register upon his release.
“This was persistent manipulative grooming of a vulnerable girl over a period of months,” Judge Edwards said.
“Neither bail conditions nor prison deterred you from continuing the abuse.”
Judge Edwards said a pre-sentence report prepared by a psychologist stated Cook showed limited insight into his offending and seemed more concerned about how the victim would react once he was prohibited from seeing her.
The report said Cook was of the understanding the girl’s mother approved of their relationship and that he still seemed infatuated with her.
“She is vulnerable because of her age but also her intellectual abilities and other issues… all she wanted was the happy ending of marriage and children,” Judge Edwards said.
“You took advantage of this.”
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.