Australian Lawyers Weekly reports
A prominent criminal lawyer who was accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl has been found guilty of contempt of court for having the locks of his Melbourne office changed before a manager appointed to the firm could access the premises.
Melbourne-based lawyer Glenn Thexton is awaiting penalties after being found guilty of contempt of court for changing the locks shortly after his practising certificate was suspended. When the manager appointed to the firm discovered the lock change, a series of emails confirmed he had worked with the property manager to do so.
In October 2020, not long before the lock change, Mr Thexton was charged with one count of sexual assault with police alleging that he groped a 17-year-old girl in 2019. He disputed the charges and claimed he had just moved past the teen, adding that it was part of a broader conspiracy by Victoria Police because he “[knew] too much”.
In emails to the property manager for the landlord of the premises, Mr Thexton first claimed that he had changed his mind in terms of who should be making the lock changes because he had “obligations not to interfere with the manager”. Given this, he asked that the property manager take charge “given the rent has not been paid”.
In that same email, he offered to not only pay the locksmith but to pay a fee upfront before the job was done “to get them to change the locks”. This was before the manager – a partner of Thomson Geer – had the chance to access his Melbourne office but following the removal of documents to storage from his Sydney office.
The Victorian Supreme Court found that his actions in approving a quote, authorising the job to proceed, paying the locksmith’s fees in advance and delivering the original key to the locksmith “caused the locksmith to change the locks”. In doing so, Mr Thexton “deliberately obstructed [the partner] in performing his functions”.