• Jayden Antonio Cook, 27, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 60-year-old Talini Manu.
• Cook, who was blackout drunk, also assaulted a 50-year-old and his brother during the incident.
• Justice Andrew Becroft emphasised the need for deterrence, describing the violence as “senseless” and “mindless”.

A rough sleeper who beat a 60-year-old to death after waking up “highly agitated” at a South Auckland bus stop still doesn’t know why he lashed out.

Jayden Antonio Cook, 27, told authorities after pleading guilty to murder that he had been blackout drunk that night.

He only fully understood what happened after he was shown CCTV footage of the incident, Justice Andrew Becroft said today as he sentenced Cook to life imprisonment with a minimum term behind bars of 10-and-a-half years.

“This was senseless, mindless violence resulting in an utterly needless loss of life,” the judge said. “I need to send a clear message today - a deterrent message ... that vicious, gratuitous violence is unacceptable in a civilised community.”

Jayden Antonio Cook appears in the High Court at Auckland on 20 May 2025 to be sentenced for murder. Photo / Jason Dorday

The defendant was also ordered to serve a concurrent two-year sentence for beating a 50-year-old acquaintance so severely the victim woke up from a concussion thinking he had been hit by a bus. A final concurrent sentence of one year was added for assaulting his own brother, who was also homeless at the time.

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 states.

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

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

“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.

“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.”

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

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.”

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.

Manu’s family declined to submit a victim impact statement to the court, rather letting the shocking facts of the incident speak for themselves, Judge Becroft said today.

“They are no doubt deeply upset and saddened, and you have changed the Manu family forever,” he said.

“I also need to protect the community from you. In my view, the community does need that protection...

“To be blunt, I need to be sure there will be help to make sure you learn how not to behave like this, and when you get out of prison you don’t do it again.”

Police are investigating a serious assault on Bader Drive in Mangere that has left a man in critical condition. New Zealand Herald photograph by Hayden Woodward 02 October 2023.

In most cases, murder convictions come with a minimum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years before a convict can apply for parole. In Cook’s case, Justice Becroft accepted the Crown’s submission that the starting point should be 11 years for the murder charge.

The minimum period was then uplifted by two years to reflect the other assaults that night.

Justice Andrew Becroft. Photo / Alan Gibson

The judge then allowed reductions of one year for Cook’s guilty plea and one-and-a-half years for his troubled upbringing, which included being seperated from his siblings and being shuffled from foster home to foster home from the age of 5 or 6 due to family violence at home.

Justice Becroft declined a further reduction for remorse, suggesting Cook’s regret was genuine but not yet at the level to justify one. He did note that Cook wrote a letter of apology that indicated “at least a glimmering of understanding of what you’ve done”.

Cook explained in the letter: “When I look at how I acted, I think, ‘What an idiot.’ I want to say I’m sorry.”

The judge also declined to uplift Cook’s sentence for his limited history of previous convictions. He had one prior assault with intent to injure conviction as an adult and aggravated robbery and assault with intent to rob cases from Youth Court.

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.