A New South Wales state MP, Gareth Ward, has been convicted of sexually abusing two young men, including a teenager, after inviting them to his house and plying them with drinks.
The 44-year-old Kiama MP stood trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault charges.
One of the victims, an 18-year-old man, alleges that Ward invited him to his South Coast home in February 2013, got him drunk, and indecently assaulted him three times that night, despite his attempts to resist.
Two years later, Ward allegedly sexually assaulted a 24-year-old political staffer after a mid-week event at NSW Parliament House in 2015.
The staffer claims that Ward climbed into bed with him, groped his backside, and sexually assaulted him despite him repeatedly saying “no”.
Jury Returns Unanimous Verdicts of Guilty
After deliberating for two-and-a-half days, the jury returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on all counts.
Ward will return to court later this year to be sentenced.
The crown prosecutor, Monika Knowles, argued that there were too many similarities between the accounts of the two complainants – who didn’t know each other – to be a coincidence.
Knowles said the victims were emotionally vulnerable and had been drinking when Ward invited them over, plied them with drinks, and sexually abused them without consent while they were lying down.
The evidence showed that Ward had a tendency to act on his sexual interest in young men less powerful than him by committing sexual offences against them, the prosecutor argued.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).