A Dunedin man who raped two girls, violated one while driving his moped, and said "having sex was like a competition" has been jailed for seven years.
Jodin Christopher Crawford-Cooke, 21, was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court on Thursday after a jury found him guilty of two charges of rape and two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
The defendant denied the charges and had one trial last year, and one last week.
Since the first trial Crawford-Cooke changed his tune, admitting the offending and writing apology letters to both victims.
The court heard that in April 2021, a 15-year-old girl attended Crawford-Cooke’s 17th birthday party.
The defendant paid particular attention to the girl throughout the night.
The court heard the girl had been drinking alcohol and became intoxicated.
Later in the night the girl realised someone had taken her phone home with them.
Crawford-Cooke took her on his moped to retrieve it.
He sat behind her on the moped, put his hand up her skirt and violated her.
She tried to push his hands away and told him not to do that but he "wouldn’t take no for an answer", she said.
Crawford-Cooke then convinced her to stop at a school.
While there, she found herself on her back in a bush but could not remember how she got there.
Crawford-Cooke raped her while she lay on the ground "frozen".
Later, the girl told her mother and they went to the police.
The defendant told police the 15-year-old had been "feeling him up all night".
"What was a guy supposed to do when a girl made him horny?" he said.
In October 2021, Crawford-Cooke consensually kissed and cuddled a 14-year-old at his house.
She told him "not to get any ideas" and she did not want to do anything further because it would hurt.
Crawford-Cooke replied: "it will hurt but then it will get better".
He forced himself on to her. She tried to push him away.
The victim suffered an internal injury, the court heard.
The defendant told police he thought the girl met up with him specifically for sex and denied she told him to stop.
At trial, messages between Crawford-Cooke and the girl were revealed in which the defendant had the username "p...y destroyer".
Since Friday when the defendant was found guilty at his second trial, he accepted his crimes and said he was being "young and dumb".
"Now that I have grown up I realise what I have done and that I never intentionally tried to hurt you at all but that is what I did," Crawford-Cooke wrote in an apology letter.
He told a probation officer: "at high school having sex was considered a competition to see who had done it the most times."
Judge Michael Turner said the defendant’s apology letters would "ring hollow" with the victims.
"Six days ago, before the jury, you’re calling [the victim] a liar," the judge said.
The first victim read a statement to the court which described her mental-health struggles since the offending.
"I was alone with my thoughts and couldn’t find it in me to trust anyone," she said.
"When I heard you’d been found guilty, I just felt this weight lift off my shoulders I didn’t realise I’d been carrying for four years."
While reading her statement, a member of the public gallery yelled "f... up b....".
Judge Turner held the woman in contempt of court and sent her to the cells.
She later apologised for her behaviour and was let go.
In a statement, the other victim said since the offending she had not been herself.
"I hate you for making me feel this way and how it’s going to affect me for the rest of my life."
Counsel Anne Stevens KC stressed her client was young and struggled with his mental health.
Judge Turner sentenced Crawford-Cooke to seven years’ imprisonment.
Due to his age at the time of the offending, Crawford-Cooke was not registered on the Child Sex Offender Register.
— Felicity Dear, Court reporter
