Western Power staff stood down over character references for rapist manager

Western Power employees stood down over character references for senior manager convicted of rape In short: Three Western Power employees have been stood down after providing character references in favour of a senior manager, who was jailed for raping a female colleague on a work trip. Jeffrey David Spinner, 59, was sentenced to five years in jail after taking the victim to his hotel room when she was heavily intoxicated in 2024, and assaulting her. WA’s energy minister has ordered Western Power to review how it communicated with the government and escalated serious issues. Three Western Power employees who gave favourable character references to a senior manager who raped a female colleague on a work trip have been stood down, with the energy minister ordering an investigation into the government-owned utility. Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing, including descriptions of sexual assault. Jeffrey David Spinner, 59, was sentenced to five years in jail in June after he took the victim to his hotel room in Bunbury while she was heavily intoxicated in 2024. The court heard the woman had vomited earlier in the night and required assistance to walk, which Spinner witnessed. After she went back to Spinner's hotel room thinking it was hers, she sat in the shower fully clothed with the water running. Spinner helped her out of the shower and the woman got into his bed with a towel on. She woke up to him raping her, the court heard. In sentencing remarks, District Court Judge Gary William Massey referred to character references provided by colleagues, finding the offending was "out of character". "I'll give you the benefit of being a person of prior good character," he said while considering an appropriate sentence. He referred to references from a colleague who had worked with Spinner closely for a long period of time, and who described the senior manager as "a highly respected work colleague known for [his] professionalism, integrity and strong work ethic". Despite that, the judge said the case was serious, featured aggravating circumstances and left the victim feeling "scared, vulnerable and uncertain about her future", to the point that a security guard was placed outside her home. 'Completely unacceptable': minister WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson lashed out at the Western Power employees who provided the character references. "This case is shocking and disturbing, and completely unacceptable," she said. She ordered Western Power to conduct an immediate investigation, and said the power provider had stood down the employees who provided the character references. "Firstly I want to offer my full support to the woman involved at the centre of this case," Ms Sanderson said. "She has shown incredible strength and resilience in coming forward in reporting these charges, in pursuing the charges, and enduring a court case. "In my view these actions do not meet the standard required of Western Power employees, and they demonstrate an appalling lack of judgement. Ms Sanderson would not rule out a third-party review into the handling of the case, but said she would first allow the internal review to complete its course. "The review is intended to take around two weeks, and the outcomes of that review will be made public," she said. Ms Sanderson said the state government had previously committed to removing character references as a mitigating factor in the sentencing of child sexual abuse offences, and would now consider removing them from other offences, including sexual assault. The minister said she had also ordered Western Power to review how it communicated with government and escalated serious issues. "It is disappointing that there was no formal briefing to me or my office around the full extent of this case," she said. CEO learned of character references this week Western Power chief executive officer Gair Landsborough, who was appointed to the role at the end of last month, said the utility investigated the incident in 2024. "This resulted in the immediate [standing] down of the accused employee, and following an investigation, the termination of employment," he said. Despite Spinner being sentenced in June, Mr Landsborough said Western Power was only "made aware" on Monday evening that three of its employees had provided character references to Spinner, before a story was published in local media. "As soon as we were made aware of this, again an investigation into that … has been initiated," he said. Mr Landsborough said it was "absolutely not good enough" his organisation was not aware. "That's part of the review … that we had our own staff providing character witnesses in a sentencing and we were not aware of it," he said. He said management did not attend the sentencing as planned because they were not told of a change of date. "But we should've been there and we've got to learn from this and make sure that it doesn't happen again," he said. Mr Landsborough said his immediate concern was for the wellbeing of the victim. "Very concerned about her welfare, I gave her a call yesterday just to check how she's going, and more importantly let her know any support that she needs, Western Power is here for her," he said. "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."