The New South Wales government has called on Gareth Ward to resign after the state MP was found guilty of sexually abusing two young men – including a teenager – after inviting them to his house and plying them with alcohol.
The Kiama MP, 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 met a year prior, to his South Coast home in February 2013. The man told the jury that Ward plied him with drinks before indecently assaulting him three times in one night, despite his attempts to resist.
Two years later, the longtime MP sexually assaulted a 24-year-old intoxicated political staffer after a midweek event at the NSW Parliament House in 2015, the court heard.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The man, who is now in his 30s, said Ward climbed into bed with him, groped his backside and sexually assaulted him despite him repeatedly saying “no”.
After deliberating for two and a half days, the jury on Friday returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on all counts.
A spokesperson for the NSW government said Ward’s position in the parliament was now “no longer tenable”.
“We call on him to resign immediately,” the spokesperson said. “Should Mr Ward refuse to resign, the Government will take steps to protect the Legislative Assembly’s integrity.”
The spokesperson added: “Our thoughts are with the victim-survivors, whose strength and courage in coming forward must be recognised and respected.”
Guardian Australia has contacted Ward’s office for comment.
Under section 13A of the Constitutional Act, Ward could be automatically expelled from parliament 28 days after he is sentenced because his offences carry more than a five-year maximum prison sentence. But that will only occur in that timeframe if he doesn’t appeal against the verdict.
Anne Twomey, a University of Sydney constitutional law expert, said if Ward appealed and failed, he would then be automatically expelled.
“You get 28 days to put in what’s called a notice of intention to appeal, and then that gives you 12 months within which you can assemble all the evidence for your appeal and formally put in your notice of appeal … So theoretically, this could run on for quite a period of time.”
Twomey said parliament was entitled to suspend Ward while the appeal was under way if it was determined his position would bring the house into disrepute and needed to protect its integrity to function.
Ward, who has held the seat for Kiama since 2011, left the Liberal party in 2021 after it was revealed the police were investigating him over the allegation. He ran again as an independent in the 2023 state election.
The NSW Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, wrote in a statement on the verdict that abuse of power “has no place anywhere”.
“I respect 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.”
Ward had denied the allegations against him, claiming the incidents either did not happen or did not amount to sexual abuse.
But crown prosecutor Monika Knowles said there were too many similarities between the accounts of the two complainants – who did not 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,” 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,” Knowles said.
Ward will return to court later this year to be sentenced.
