A state MP has been found guilty of sexually abusing two young men – including a teenager – after inviting them to his house and plying them with alcohol.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward, 44, stood trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault charges.
He was accused of inviting a drunk 18-year-old man – whom he had met a year prior – to his home on the NSW South Coast home in February 2013.
The man, now in his 30s, told the jury that Ward plied him with alcoholic drinks before indecently assaulting him three times in one night, despite his attempts to resist.
Two years later, the long-time MP allegedly sexually assaulted an intoxicated political staffer after a mid-week event at NSW Parliament House in 2015.
The man, who was 24 at the time, said Ward climbed into bed with him, groped his backside, and sexually assaulted him despite him repeatedly telling him ‘no’.
After deliberating for two-and-a-half days, the jury returned an unanimous verdict of guilty on all counts on Friday.
‘Guilty,’ the jury foreperson told the court.
Gareth Ward (pictured) has been found guilty of sexually abusing two young men
Ward was accused of inviting a drunk 18-year-old man – whom he had met a year prior – to his home on the NSW South Coast home in February 2013 (he is pictured at court in June)
Ward will return to court later this year to be sentenced.
He had strenuously denied the allegations against him, claiming the incidents either didn’t happen or didn’t amount to sexual abuse.
But crown prosecutor Monika Knowles said there were too many similarities between the accounts of the two complainants – who didn’t know each other – to be a coincidence.
They 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, she said.
‘You might think what happened to (the complainants) did not happen by random chance or just dumb luck,’ Ms Knowles told the jury.
‘Similar behaviour, similar setting, same man, same conclusion. This is not a coincidence.’
The evidence showed 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.
‘These people weren’t overtaken by force, they were taken by surprise,’ Ms Knowles said.
Ward has held the Kiama electorate since 2011, winning three elections under the Liberal banner before securing the 2023 poll as an independent.
