Many spoke of how the experience had changed them, leaving them with a deep distrust of people.<\/p>\n
Several spoke of the difficulties they now had sleeping and their fear of hidden cameras. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I will remember forever, as much as I try to forget,\u201d one victim told the court. <\/p>\n
Their parents spoke of the guilt they\u2019d felt over what had happened. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo have the innocence of our boys taken away and our trust broken will stay with us forever,\u201d one told the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalking about Jared is like opening a sewer tank; it makes you feel sick,\u201d another said. <\/p>\n
Which boy? We know of at least four<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Tim Bain told the court at an earlier sentencing indication, Cook appeared to lack remorse and seemed unwilling to seek treatment, to make an emotional harm payment or take part in restorative justice. <\/p>\n
At today\u2019s sentencing, he remained sceptical of Cook\u2019s efforts to make amends, pointing to a letter from a psychiatrist which talked about the potential damage to one boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich boy? We know of at least four,\u201d Bain asked the judge. <\/p>\n
Bain also told the court there was evidence he\u2019d not been residing at his bail address in Wellington, opting instead to live on his boat in the Marlborough Sounds, without the permission of the court or police. <\/p>\n
And yesterday, the Crown had received three short typed letters, purportedly expressing Cook\u2019s remorse. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn my submission, words are easy, particularly when some of them appear to be cut and pasted between the three different letters,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of that suggests Dr Cook lacks insight into the risks he poses, and doesn\u2019t understand how his actions are continuing to affect the people against whom he has offended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jared Cook was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention. Photo \/ Catherine Hutton.<\/p>\n
But in response, Cook\u2019s lawyer, Christopher Stevenson, KC, submitted his client had shown insight, remorse and was committed to an ongoing process of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the probation report, which said Cook had expressed his remorse, noting that the guilt and shame had never left him. <\/p>\n
A report from his psychiatrist also pointed out he\u2019d engaged well in therapeutic conversations and was devastated by his behaviour. He\u2019d also expressed a willingness to continue with his treatment. <\/p>\n
Stevenson also told the court that there had been no bail breaches. <\/p>\n
Finally, he\u2019d offered to make an emotional harm payment of $5000 to each of his victims. <\/p>\n
Judge Bruce Davidson sentenced Cook to 10 months’ home detention. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
In sentencing, Judge Davidson said the Crown was very suspicious and doubtful of Cook\u2019s remorse and commitment to treatment, and therefore a sentence of home detention was off the table. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crown submits that you have really offered too little, too late. You have downplayed your earlier 1997 offending, you have not shown any depth of insight into your offending, you may not have been entirely frank with your psychiatrist, and you seem to have misled the court in relation to your bail arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the judge said, Stevenson urged him to impose home detention, particularly given the impact on his professional and social life. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s also given a commitment to treatment and approached Wellstop, a programme to treat sex offenders. <\/p>\n
Judge Davidson said he wasn\u2019t as sceptical as the Crown, but said at sentencing, he expected a greater picture of Cook\u2019s remorse, insight into his offending and willingness to seek treatment. <\/p>\n
But he told the court Cook had pleaded guilty and what had been provided was enough to tip the balance to home detention, adding that Cook had lost almost everything, including his chosen career, social standing and social networks. <\/p>\n
\u201cYour future employment prospects are not good,\u201d Judge Davidson told the 52-year-old.<\/p>\n
According to the Medical Council of NZ, the former Waikanae GP has not held a practising certificate since March 2021.<\/p>\n
On the charge of doing an indecent act on a young person, two representative charges of doing an indecent act on a young person, as well as representative charges of possession of an objectionable publication and making an intimate visual recording, Cook was sentenced to 10 months\u2019 home detention. <\/p>\n
The judge also imposed conditions, including that Cook was not to contact his victims or be in the presence of anyone under the age of 16, without the permission of a probation officer. <\/p>\n
He was also ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment and counselling, attend a Wellstop assessment and not to use electronic devices, except those approved by a probation officer. <\/p>\n
He also ordered Cook to pay three of his victims $5000 each, immediately, and that Cook\u2019s name was to be placed on the sex offenders register. <\/p>\n
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The touching happened over their clothing and bedding and often at his home. \u201cWhat marks the offending is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9055,23503,11586,4194,20556,2082,2740,19724,69835,1345,22500,55143,60832,3234,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-184507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-9055","tag-acts","tag-coast","tag-cook","tag-detention","tag-for","tag-former","tag-given","tag-gp","tag-home","tag-indecent","tag-jared","tag-kpiti","tag-months","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}