Three employees have been stood down after they provided glowing references in court for a manager who was being sentenced for raping a colleague on a work trip.Jeffrey David Spinner, 59, was sentenced to five years’ jail in the Western Australia District Court over four counts of sexual penetration without consent over a 2024 workplace incident.A court was told Spinner had worked for Western Power, a West Australian government agency, for almost four decades and as a regional manager was supervising several employees, including the woman who reluctantly agreed to have dinner with him after a work meeting.On the way back to their hotel, they went to a pub and consumed more drinks.The victim became heavily intoxicated and vomited several times outside the bar.Spinner walked her back to their hotel and into his room, where she fell asleep in bed believing she was in her own room.She woke up to Spinner touching her inappropriately in bed without her consent.“(She) was very frightened when she woke up in that way and acted as though she was still passed out,” Judge Gary Massey said.“You lifted her arm up and dropped it and she let it drop in order to continue to act as though she was passed out.”After taking into account what he read and heard about Spinner from referees, Judge Massey said during sentencing that he would treat Spinner’s offending as “being out of character”.He said Spinner’s co-workers described him as someone who was highly respected and known for his professionalism, integrity and strong work ethic.“He says you’ve demonstrated, trustworthiness, reliability and a strong moral compass,” Judge Massey told the court.Another colleague Spinner mentored said he was a dependable friend, while another co-worker said Spinner conducted himself respectfully and appropriately towards others.“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,” Judge Massey said.“I do give you the benefit of being a person of prior good character.”In a victim impact statement, the woman told the court she now had difficulties in her workplace and no longer felt safe.“She says the world feels a more frightening place. She became isolated after your offending, which was particularly marked for her because she had no family or support network … having only recently moved,” Judge Massey said.Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said it was a distressing, shocking and disturbing case that was completely unacceptable.She offered her support to the woman involved who she said had shown incredible strength and resilience to come forward and endure a court case.“She deserves to be respected and supported,” Ms Sanderson said.“The CEO advises me that the Western Power employees who have provided the character references have been stood down effective immediately, pending further investigation. “Let me be clear, in my view, these actions do not meet the standards required of Western Power employees, and they demonstrate an appalling lack of judgment. “Their actions are unacceptable, and they erode trust and safety in the organisation.” Ms Sanderson said women who worked at Western Power had every right to feel safe at work. “I will await the findings of the CEO’s investigation and review before taking any further action, but I won’t rule out instigating a third-party review into the handling of this case,” she said.Western Power chief executive Gair Landsborough said after becoming aware of the incident in 2024, the organisation’s immediate priority was the welfare of the affected employee who was provided support.“There is no tolerance for sexual harassment or misconduct in Western Power’s workforce, and that’s something I certainly, as a new CEO, am committed to make sure that we continue to improve on,” he said.“At the same time we instigated an investigation into the incident that resulted in the immediate stand down of the accused employee.“Since then, for over two years, we’ve been supporting our employee. “She remains part of Western Power’s workforce, a real valued contributor, and we want to make sure we continue to support her through not just the process we’ve been through recently but also her experience in Western Power.”Mr Landsborough said three employees who provided character references at Spinner’s sentencing were stood down on Monday as soon as the organisation became aware of their actions.“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,” he said. “We want to make sure that people are reporting any of these types of incidents.”