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Western Power has stood down three employees who provided glowing character references for a colleague who was convicted of raping a woman during a work trip.
In a press conference on Tuesday morning with Energy Minister Amber Jade Sanderson, Western Power chief executive Gair Landsborough, who was only promoted to the role last month, said the organisation had been made aware of the rape allegation in 2024.
“Our immediate priority was the welfare and to provide support to the impact of the employee, which we did immediately,” he said.
“And at the same time, we instigated an investigation into the incident at the time, that resulted in the immediate stand down of the accused employee, and following an investigation, the termination of employment.”
Jeffrey Spinner, 59, was convicted of four counts of sexual penetration without consent in April this year, and sentenced to five years jail.
He was found to have raped his colleague during a work trip after she became heavily intoxicated and vomited while the pair were having after-dinner drinks together. Spinner took the woman back to his hotel room, and she woke to him sexually assaulting her.
During his sentencing, the court heard glowing references from five of his colleagues at Western Power, three men and two women.
Landsborough said that the company was made aware on Monday evening that three of the people were still employed at Western Power.
“As soon as we were made aware of this, an investigation into that … has been initiated,” he said.
“The three employees in question have been relieved of their duties and stood down as part of that process.
“We’ve instigated a review of our safety and culture program. That means everything from reviewing our code of conduct, the leadership training we provide our senior people, the mandatory training we do provide already for sexual harassment and misconduct and the like.
“We want to make sure that people are reporting any of these types of incidents.”
Sanderson said the decision by the employees to provide character references was a ‘terrible lapse in judgement’, and that they were now facing disciplinary action.
“I was appalled, and shocked, and furious about the character references,” she said.
“This is sending a message to the whole community, tackling sexual assault, sexual violence, family domestic violence is a whole community responsibility. It’s not just the government. It’s not just the police. It’s not just victim survivors or perpetrators. It’s the whole community.”
District Court Judge Gary Massey, who sentenced Spinner, said the character references he provided had said the rape was out of character.
“So all those people, there’s a fairly consistent theme running through those references of you being a very good employee, a dedicated family person and dedicated to your friends as well,” he said.
“So I do give you the benefit of being a person of prior good character.”
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