Previous Down Under Public Figure Sentenced for More Than Five Years for Sexual Offenses
An ex- lawmaker convicted of attacking two young men he met through his position received a sentence to nearly six years in prison.
Legal Proceedings
Gareth Ward, forty-four, has been in custody since last summer after a jury convicted him of raping one man and sexually abusing another individual, in separate incidents in over two years.
The politician represented the seaside community of the district in the NSW parliament from 2011. He left his position as a Liberal Party official when allegations surfaced in 2021 but declined to leave the legislature and returned to office in 2023.
Sentencing Details
The presiding officer the judicial figure considered the defendant's condition of vision impairment in the judgment and found "no different consequence other than detention is appropriate".
The defendant, who participated via video-link at the courthouse, will serve at least 45 months in prison before he can seek conditional freedom.
Justice Shead declared the legal system needs to "deliver a strong warning to similar individuals that sexual offendings like these will be met with salutary penalties".
Additional Information
The judge added the convicted man had "avoided punishment for a decade and experienced freedom free from a treatment or penalty for the offenses during those years".
After his conviction, the politician launched a unsuccessful appeal attempt to stay in government and resigned just prior to the congress could remove him.
Representatives has stated earlier he aims to contest the ruling.
Incident Details
Ward's nine-week trial in the NSW District Court was told that he brought a inebriated 18-year-old man to his property in 2013 and attacked him repeatedly, despite resistance attempts to oppose.
Two years later, he sexually assaulted a mid-twenties political staffer at his property after a function at parliament.
He had maintained the later assault didn't happen, and that the additional accuser was confused about their encounter from the earlier year.
The state's attorneys argued that striking similarities in the accounts of the individuals, who did not know each other, showed they were being honest.
Court members deliberated for three days before delivering the guilty verdicts.
His departure led to a replacement vote in his constituency in last fall, which was claimed by the challenger.
