Previous Australian Politician Jailed for Over 60 Months for Sex Crimes
An ex- public official convicted of attacking two victims encountered via his position was given to five years and nine months in prison.
Legal Proceedings
Gareth Ward, 44, was in prison since last summer after a jury convicted him of attacking a victim and sexually abusing a second person, in different occasions in 2013 and 2015.
The politician represented the coastal town of Kiama in the NSW legislature from 2011. He resigned as a government official when accusations emerged in 2021 but resisted resigning from the legislature and was re-elected in 2023.
Judgment Information
Judge the court official took into account Ward's disability of vision impairment in her sentence and found "no other penalty besides detention could be considered".
The defendant, who participated via remote connection at the judicial venue, will complete at minimum 45 months in custody before he can apply for early release.
The court official stated the court needs to "send a stern message to like-minded offenders that illegal behaviors such as this will be met with serious punishments".
Case Background
She also said the convicted man had "evaded consequences for ten years and enjoyed a life absent a rehabilitation program or penalty for his actions during that period".
Post-trial, the politician initiated a unsuccessful legal bid to continue in government and resigned moments before the members could remove him.
Defense attorneys has indicated before he plans to appeal the ruling.
Trial Evidence
The defendant's nine-week trial in the state court learned that he brought a drunk 18-year-old man to his residence in the first incident and sexually abused him repeatedly, despite resistance attempts to oppose.
Subsequently, he attacked a young government employee at his home after a function at government offices.
He had maintained the 2015 rape never occurred, and that the other complainant was misremembering their meeting from 2013.
However, prosecutors argued that significant resemblances in the testimonies of the two men, who had no connection to one another, demonstrated they were telling the truth.
The panel deliberated for 72 hours before delivering the guilty verdicts.
Ward's resignation caused a special election in the district in last fall, which was won by the challenger.
