Jack David Scofield fined $15,000 for attempting to dump asbestos material on side of road

A 21-year-old man who was just weeks into a new job at his dad’s asbestos handling company has been dealt a massive fine for attempting to brazenly dump more than two tonnes of material containing asbestos on the side of the road in Kwinana.

Jack David Scofield, 21, appeared in Rockingham Magistrates Court, pleading not guilty to one count of discharging or abandoning or allowing waste on or in any place other than water to which the public has access.

Six witnesses took the stand on Wednesday, including Mr Scofield’s father David Scofield, a weighbridge operator and City of Kwinana officers.

State solicitor Michael Olds told the court on the morning of March 13, 2020 Scofield and co-accused Raj Singh took a 2.2t load of waste material from Applecross to Waste Stream Management in Kwinana.

Driven by Mr Singh with Scofield as passenger, the tipper truck’s tray held cement sheeting and asbestos wrapped in black plastic.

The truck was owned by and bore the logo of asbestos removal service Action Asbestos, which employed both men at the time.

Waste Stream weighbridge operator Susan Bone asked the pair if the material in the black plastic contained asbestos, as it wasn’t labelled so per requirements in the Environmental Protection (Controlled Waste) Regulations 2004.

Ms Bone told them the asbestos-laden material could not be accepted without the appropriate labelling and they could buy tape to label the waste but Scofield declined. The pair then drove away.

Witness Daniel Turrel, a City of Kwinana officer at the time, testified he was travelling along Orton Road in Casuarina when he saw the white tipper truck at the end of the road with the tray raised.

He said he became suspicious the waste was being dumped illegally, drove towards the truck and saw there was a black plastic package and pieces of timber on the ground, with Scofield and Mr Singh standing next to the truck.

Mr Turrel said he contacted Kwinana City Assist and officer Andrew Southall arrived shortly afterwards.

Mr Southall took the stand and told the court he recorded an interview with Scofield admitting the truck had been full of waste and it was illegal to dump material in public.

He said Scofield and Mr Singh then put on overalls and personal protective equipment and placed the material back on to the truck.

They drove back to Waste Stream and disposed of the waste correctly.

David Scofield, owner and director of Action Asbestos, said Mr Singh had been employed with him for four years before the incident.

Mr Scofield’s son, the accused, had only been with the company for a few weeks and was sent to assist Mr Singh with getting the truckload of asbestos to Kwinana, he said.

“Over the years the company has assisted with 15-20,000 jobs and we’ve never had one complaint,” he said.

The businessman said on the day of the offending, he wasn’t aware of anything that had happened until “later that day”.

Mr Scofield said he fired Mr Singh that same afternoon.

“I take full responsibility of my employees,” he said.

Magistrate Steven Malley said the offending could have been avoided with the correct labelling and any sentence needed to “serve as a reminder to not re-offend”.

“This sort of behaviour is one that is hard to detect and it’s one that requires the strongest deterrence to the public,” he said.

Scofield was fined $15,000 with court costs of $163, and was ordered to pay $7,700.68 in prosecution costs.