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A New South Wales (NSW) politician has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in Australia.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The jury deliberated for three days after hearing nine weeks of evidence in the NSW District Court.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Two years later, he raped a political staffer after an event at parliament.<\/p>\n
Ward had argued the 2015 rape didn’t happen, and that the other complainant was misremembering their encounter from 2013.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Similar behaviour, similar setting, same man, same conclusion. This is not a coincidence,” crown prosecutor Monika Knowles told the trial, according to local media.<\/p>\n
Ward will return to court later this year to be sentenced.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n