A teacher convicted of having sex with underage students also inappropriately messaged multiple older students, sending the teenagers nude photographs and discussing drugs and self-harm.
The teacher was convicted in court over her interactions with students under 16, but the full details of her behaviour with older students that didn’t result in criminal charges has now been revealed by the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal.
Jaimee Maree Cooney, a 40-year-old former teacher at Malborough Boys’ College, was sentenced in the Blenheim District Court to two years and six months in jail in December 2019.
She pleaded guilty to two charges of having sexual relations with a minor, and two charges of sending indecent material. The charges related to two male victims, aged under 16, who were both students at the school. The offending occurred in 2018 and 2019.
She was released on parole after around 10 months in prison.
It’s understood Cooney, the wife of a police officer and mother of two, was the first female teacher in New Zealand convicted and sentenced for sexual offending against students.
While she was charged over offending related to the two students, she didn’t deny she had further sexual relations with other students. No additional criminal charges were laid.
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Jaimee Marie Cooney was a teacher at Marlborough Boys’ College at the time of the offending but has since had her teaching registration cancelled. Photo / Nelson Weekly
The conduct outside of the criminal prosecution was assessed by the tribunal, which in a decision released this week censured Cooney and ordered she pay costs.
The decision says that in May 2019, Cooney began messaging an 18-year-old student on Snapchat. The conversation initially surrounded rugby, but the teacher then sent photos of her breasts.
She later picked up the student in her car and told him of her depression. She performed oral sex on the student.
Days later, while in school, she and the student left in her vehicle. Cooney rubbed the student’s genitals and when he told her to stop, she replied that he should stop being a “scaredy cat”. She later drove him back to school.
A third incident saw Cooney perform oral sex on two students who were in the same car.
Also in 2019, Cooney began talking to a student on social media after he messaged her asking for help with his English homework. They began messaging regularly, and the conversation turned sexual.
She performed oral sex on the student “on more than one occasion”. She also spoke of how she wanted to self-harm.
There was another instance of the teacher messaging a student about her mental health struggles.
“[Cooney] would send angry messages to [the student] if he did not reply to her and imply he was in the wrong for not doing so.”
The decision also included further instances of Cooney hugging students, calling one ‘beautiful’ and speaking of self-harm and drugs.
It is not clear in the decision precisely how many students she inappropriately engaged with. She broadly accepted all findings, although “there were some initial disagreements about some of the particulars,” the decision said.
Tribunal deputy-chair Tim Mackenzie wrote in his decision there was no doubt the behaviour was at the “higher end of serious misconduct.
“The conduct here was also clearly of a character and severity to trigger several of the criteria for reporting serious misconduct.”
The charge of serious misconduct was proven, and had Cooney not already had her registration cancelled due to her criminal convictions, the tribunal would have ordered as such.
She was censured and ordered to pay 40 per cent of the tribunal’s costs, totalling $6659.
SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION
Where to get help:
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• What’s Up: 0800 942 8787 (11am to11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Helpline: 1737
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
MALE SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS
Where to get help:
If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
• If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talk on 0800 044 334 or text 4334. (available 24/7)
• Male Survivors Aotearoa offers a range of confidential support at centres across New Zealand – find your closest one here.
• Mosaic – Tiaki Tangata: 0800 94 22 94 (available 11am-8pm)
• Alternatively contact your local police station – click here for a list.
If you have been abused, remember it’s not your fault.