NSW MP Gareth Ward found guilty of sexually abusing two young men
NSW MP Gareth Ward found guilty of sexually abusing two young men
Clare Sibthorpe, Amber Schultz, Jessica McSweeneyand Alexandra Smith
Updated first published at
State MP Gareth Ward has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men he met through his position in politics after inviting them to his home following drunken nights out.
The 44-year-old held his hand over his mouth, staring intently at the jury as the verdicts were read out.
After a nine-week trial and nearly three days of deliberations, a 12-person jury of five men and seven women found the independent Kiama MP indecently assaulted an 18-year-old man at his Shoalhaven home on the South Coast in 2013 three times, and had sexual intercourse without consent with a 24-year-old political staffer at his Potts Point apartment in 2015.
He will remain on bail, living between his homes and reporting to police daily, at Kings Cross and Nowra stations, until a detention application is made by prosecutors on Wednesday. The former minister walked briskly out of the courtroom, and did not speak to media outside.
The verdict sent shockwaves through NSW parliament, where Ward now sits as an independent after being expelled from the Liberal Party. The convictions mean he is likely to be ineligible to serve in parliament, triggering a byelection in the South Coast seat which he has held since 2011.
The Minns government called on the MP to resign immediately, and recognised the “strength and courage” of the victims for coming forward.
“Mr Ward’s position in the parliament is no longer tenable, and as such we call on him to resign immediately,” a government spokesperson said. “Should Mr Ward refuse to resign, the government will take steps to protect the Legislative Assembly’s integrity.”
Under the NSW Constitution, an MP’s seat is declared vacant “if convicted of an infamous crime, or of an offence punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of 5 years or more”. However, the parliament also has the power to expel an MP.
The Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said he respected the verdict and the “robust process” which delivered it.
“What any victim of sexual abuse endures is appalling and their strength in coming forward can’t be overstated,” he said.
“There is no excuse for the criminal behaviour which the jury has found occurred beyond reasonable doubt – a complete abuse of power which has no place anywhere, let alone by those entrusted by the public to represent them.”
The accusations first came to light when Ward was minister for families, communities and disability services during Gladys Berejiklian’s second term as premier.
He resigned from the Liberal Party in May 2021, and was suspended from parliament after moving to the crossbench in light of the charges, but returned following his re-election as an independent in his South Coast seat in 2023.
Ward pleaded not guilty to all counts, and did not take the stand to testify and was not required to do so.
South Coast incident
Crown prosecutor Monika Knowles told the District Court in Darlinghurst that Ward was MP for Kiama in February 2013 when he invited the 18-year-old complainant – who was 17 when they met months earlier at a networking event – back to his Meroo Meadow home.
The young man claimed the pair were drinking when he played a prank on the MP, pretending to be passed out on the grass when Ward had gone inside the house. But when Ward returned he slid his hands into the man’s shorts and touched his buttocks and genitals.
After freezing in shock, the man pretended he had been asleep and unaware of what had happened. He then said he wanted to go to bed and was taken to Ward’s bedroom, being told it was “unsafe” to sleep alone.
There, the Crown alleged, Ward assaulted him again while giving him a lower back massage as he lay on his stomach. The jury heard Ward told the man to “relax” and continued despite several requests to stop.
Potts Point sexual assault
Ward had already met the 24-year-old complainant a few times in passing when he invited him back to his Potts Point apartment after a public event at NSW Parliament House in September 2015, the court heard.
The staffer claimed he accepted the offer as he’d had a bit to drink and would have difficulty getting home, adding he was showered with compliments as they walked to Ward’s apartment in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
NSW MP Gareth Ward has been convicted of sexually abusing two men.
At the apartment, the man rebuffed Ward’s first attempt to kiss him but briefly allowed a second, before saying he wanted to sleep.
The jury heard Ward showed him to what he thought was a spare room and joined him in bed, where he digitally penetrated him while masturbating, despite being told to stop multiple times.
“I couldn’t stop my brain from analysing what had gone on … I was wondering what had given him the sense that I was open to that,” the man testified.
“[I felt] a bit down, a little dirty and confused.”
The staffer said the next morning the pair walked back to parliament, where Ward suggested he’d had too much to drink, continued complimenting him and said he would “take care” of him.
Aftermath
It took years for the assaults against both men to come to light.
The Crown argued the 18-year-old maintained contact with Ward and eventually turned to drugs to self-medicate.
The court heard he reported the assaults to police in November 2020 after encouragement by YouTuber Jordan Shanks, known as FriendlyJordies, and an ABC journalist, both of whom he had contacted about sharing his experience. He’d also learnt Ward had been appointed minister for families, communities and disability services, and said he felt “a vampire was running the blood bank”.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old first confided in a federal staffer in early 2021, having kept quiet until then as it “wasn’t [what] I thought rape was”, and Ward’s position in the Liberal Party made him hesitant to come forward and risk facing “humiliation”.
Crown said similarities ‘not a coincidence’, defence called complainants unreliable
During her closing address, Knowles said the complainants’ honesty was proven by their account of “similar behaviour, similar setting, same man, same conclusion”.
She described how a power imbalance and their professional admiration of Ward left them fearful to come forward immediately, with the 24-year-old concerned about his job.
They’d each been drinking and felt emotionally down on the relevant nights, testified that Ward encouraged them to drink more, and described being touched inappropriately while in vulnerable positions and saying “stop”.
“This is not a coincidence … I invite you to convict,” Knowles said.
During his closing address, Ward’s barrister, David Campbell, SC, argued neither accuser was assaulted and suggested the 24-year-old staffer did not even attend Ward’s home on the night in question, but instead probably fell asleep on a Parliament House couch.
He questioned discrepancies in reported details to police between his first statement in 2021 and a recorded walk-through to and from Ward’s apartment four months later.
Campbell grilled the man on his “friendly” behaviour with Ward in the years after the alleged assault, including messaging that he’d “love” to accept a party invitation, texting “Gareth, love, we are ready to start” before a work event, and sending the MP a job application saying: “Your friendship means the world to me.”
The complainant earlier said he was likely to have been “overcompensating” with friendliness and routinely called colleagues “love” and “dear”.
“Sometimes your head goes all over the place … I have always said I have immense respect for [Ward],” he said.
As for the 18-year-old, Campbell said the massage described to have been given by Ward was not sexual or criminal. He said the complainant’s recollection had changed over the years, and he continued a social relationship with Ward that was inconsistent with someone who had been sexually violated.
The trial before Judge Kara Shead was set to run for four weeks but blew out to nine weeks due to constant delays, including various legal arguments, a burst water pipe which forced proceedings to relocate to another court complex, and a key witness who arrived to his scheduled testimony hours late.
