SYDNEY, Australia — A New South Wales (NSW) politician, Gareth Ward, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in Australia.
A jury convicted Ward, who remains a sitting member of the state parliament, on three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape.
Both victims, aged 18 and 24 at the time, testified that the assaults occurred at Ward’s home after they met the now 44-year-old through political circles between 2013 and 2015.
Ward resigned from his ministerial position in the state government and from the Liberal Party when the accusations first surfaced in 2021.
However, he refused to vacate his parliamentary seat and was subsequently re-elected as the member for Kiama in 2023. The jury deliberated for three days following nine weeks of evidence presented in the NSW District Court.
During the trial, the court heard that Ward had invited a drunk 18-year-old man to his home in 2013 and indecently assaulted him three times, despite the young man’s attempts to resist. Two years later, he raped a political staffer after an event at parliament.
Ward’s defense argued that the 2015 rape did not occur and that the complainant from 2013 was misremembering their encounter.
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However, Crown Prosecutor Monika Knowles contended that the striking similarities in the accounts of the two men, who did not know each other, demonstrated their veracity.
“Similar behaviour, similar setting, same man, same conclusion. This is not a coincidence,” Crown Prosecutor Monika Knowles told the trial, according to local media.
Ward is scheduled to return to court later this year for sentencing. The NSW government had previously considered a parliamentary vote to expel Ward, who has served as a state MP since 2011, but legal advice indicated such a move could risk prejudicing his trial.
