A New South Wales (NSW) politician, Gareth Ward, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in a series of incidents between 2013 and 2015. The jury convicted Ward on three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape, marking a significant event in the political sphere.
Both victims, aged 18 and 24 at the time of the offenses, recounted their experiences of being assaulted at Ward's home after meeting him through political networks. The case emerged in 2021, leading Ward to resign from his ministerial position and the Liberal Party, although he ultimately chose to remain in parliament, securing re-election as the representative for Kiama in 2023.
After nine weeks of evidence presented in the NSW District Court, the jury took three days to reach a decision. Testimonies revealed that Ward lured a drunk 18-year-old man to his residence in 2013, where he assaulted him thrice despite the victim's resistance. Additionally, Ward faced accusations of raping a political staffer following a parliamentary event in 2015.
Ward's defense maintained that the rape allegations were unfounded and that the 2013 encounter was misremembered by the victim. However, crown prosecutor Monika Knowles highlighted the striking similarities between the victims' descriptions, underscoring the consistency and credibility of their accounts, asserting that it was no coincidence these events occurred under similar circumstances involving the same individual.
Ward is scheduled to reappear in court later this year for sentencing. The NSW government had contemplated measures to expel him from parliament given the gravity of the charges, but legal advice indicated such actions might jeopardize the fairness of the trial proceedings. The conviction of Gareth Ward has raised significant alarm about the conduct of public officials and the safety of individuals in political environments.
