A New South Wales (NSW) politician has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in Australia.
A jury found Gareth Ward – who is still a sitting member of state parliament – guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape.
Both of the victims, who were aged 18 and 24, said they were assaulted at Ward’s home after meeting the 44-year-old through political circles between 2013 and 2015.
Ward resigned as a state government minister and from the Liberal Party when the accusations emerged in 2021, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected as the member for Kiama in 2023.
The jury deliberated for three days after hearing nine weeks of evidence in the NSW District Court.
The trial heard Ward had invited a drunk 18-year-old man to his home in 2013 and indecently assaulted him three times, despite his attempts to resist.
Two years later, he raped a political staffer after an event at parliament.
Ward had argued the 2015 rape didn’t happen, and that the other complainant was misremembering their encounter from 2013.
But crown prosecutor Monika Knowles said the striking similarities in the accounts of the two men, who did not know each other, showed they were telling the truth.
“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 will return to court later this year to be sentenced.
The NSW government had previously considered voting to expel Ward – who has been a state MP since 2011 – from parliament, but legal advice indicated it could risk prejudicing his trial.
