Three current Western Power employees were stood down after it emerged they had provided positive character references for a former colleague, Jeffrey David Spinner, 59, who was sentenced to five years in prison for raping a subordinate he was mentoring. The case has renewed calls for the Western Australian government to extend an existing ban on such references — currently limited to child sexual assault cases — to adult sexual offences.
Calls grow for WA to ban positive character references in sexual offence sentencing after Western Power employees stood down
Three current Western Power employees were stood down after it emerged they had provided positive character references for a former colleague, Jeffrey David Spinner, 59, who was sentenced to five years in prison for raping a subordinate he was mentoring. The case has renewed calls for the Western Australian government to extend an existing ban on such references — currently limited to child sexual assault cases — to adult sexual offences.
Under current Western Australian law, judges sentencing offenders may consider positive character references submitted to the court. In Spinner's case, Judge Massey received eight such references and said they illustrated that the offending was 'out of character'. The judge summarised one Western Power operations manager's reference as describing Spinner as having a 'strong moral compass'; another colleague described him as always acting 'respectfully and appropriately'; a third called him a 'supportive mentor' and a 'loyal and dependable friend'.
Judge Massey found that Spinner assaulted the victim — a woman he was mentoring — after she felt pressured into attending a dinner with him, which ended with him bringing her to his hotel room, showering her in her clothes, and helping her into bed before the assault occurred. The judge described the offending as 'disturbing', saying Spinner 'essentially did what you wanted with her at a time when you must have thought she was either passed out or asleep'.
In her victim impact statement, which also factored into sentencing, the woman said she 'no longer feels safe in the way she once did' and described feeling 'scared, vulnerable and uncertain about her future', with persistent sleep difficulties and a near-constant state of hyper-vigilance.
The three employees who provided references were stood down on Tuesday after a journalist brought the case to Western Power's attention the previous afternoon. Newly appointed CEO Gair Landsborough said an oversight meant Western Power staff were not present in court when the sentence was handed down and the references were read. He said the organisation had been supporting the victim employee for over two years and that she remained part of the workforce.
The WA government has committed to banning positive character evidence in child sexual assault sentencing but has not yet decided whether to extend that ban to cases involving adults. New South Wales abolished good character references in sentencing for sexual offences earlier this year, though the article notes that legal figures had raised concerns that doing so could limit courts' ability to understand 'the offender as a whole person'.
Western Power's handling of the case, its communications with the Energy Minister, and its broader culture and safety programs are all now under review.
- The source does not name or quote the three Western Power employees who were stood down or provide their responses to the suspensions.
- The source does not detail the specific legal or procedural oversight that resulted in Western Power staff not being present in court during sentencing.
- The source does not specify what penalties or outcomes the three stood-down employees may face beyond suspension.
- The source does not provide detail on the legal figures who raised concerns about abolishing good character references, nor elaborate on the substance of those concerns beyond a brief paraphrase.
- The source does not describe the current timeline or legislative process for the government's consideration of extending the ban to adult sexual offences.
Read the original at ABC News Australia