‘Deliberate and predatory’: Ex-MP Gareth Ward jailed for sexually assaulting two men

Warning: Graphic content

Former NSW families minister Gareth Ward will spend at least the next three years and nine months in jail for raping a political staffer and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old man, both of whom he met through his position of power, in crimes a judge described as “deliberate and predatory”.

The 44-year-old had been in custody since he was convicted in July of the sexual crimes committed at his Shoalhaven home on the South Coast in 2013 and in his Potts Point apartment in 2015.

At Parramatta District Court on Friday, Judge Kara Shead sentenced the former Kiama MP to five years and nine months’ jail with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.

Shead took into account special circumstances in sentencing, due to Ward’s visual impairment disability and his need to integrate back into the community following his release.

As Ward learnt his punishment, he was seen on the audiovisual link bowing his head. Outside court, Ward’s solicitor Steven Burns said his client would appeal against the convictions.

Shead praised the victims – who were dialled into court – for their “courage and strength” in coming forward.

“Each of the victims suffered emotional and psychological harms at the hands of the offender, and the consequences of that harm have reverberated throughout their lives for more than a decade,” she said.

“The offender’s acts were deliberate and predatory in all the circumstances.”

Ward resigned from parliament from within Hunter Correctional Centre near Cessnock, hours before a scheduled parliamentary expulsion vote against him.

The jury reached their verdicts after sitting through a nine-week trial and nearly three days of deliberations.

South Coast assaults

Shead outlined how the first victim was aged 17 when he met then-31-year-old Ward at a networking event in early 2013. The judge said the Liberal MP “took immediate interest” in the young man. They discussed professional opportunities; they later connected on Facebook; and Ward helped him join the Young Liberals.

The victim had turned 18 the month before being assaulted in the Liberal MP’s Meroo Meadow home on the South Coast.

On the night of the offending, Ward invited the young man – who was upset by an argument with his girlfriend – back to his home. The victim expected other people would be there.

Shead accepted that Ward knew the victim had already been drinking and that he encouraged him to keep drinking at the home. After the pair went out to the backyard, the victim played a prank on the MP, pretending to be passed out. During this prank, Ward assaulted him.

He slid his hands into the man’s shorts and touched his buttocks and genitals. He assaulted him a third time on a bed inside the home, despite requests to stop.

The assault took place after Ward had mounted him on the bed and massaged him. The victim testified that he “froze” during the crimes and pretended he was not aware of what had happened.

The judge said: “Juries are directed that there is no typical or normal response to non-consensual sexual activity, and that people may respond … in different ways, including by freezing and not saying or doing anything.

“[The victim] was an 18-year-old youth in the company of a much older, respected and more socially powerful man.”

Potts Point rape

Two years later, Ward raped a 24-year-old political staffer at his inner-city Sydney apartment following an event at NSW Parliament House.

While the jury heard differing arguments regarding the man’s level of intoxication, Shead found beyond reasonable doubt that he was “affected by alcohol at Parliament House and this would have been evident”; that Ward gave him more alcohol when they briefly went to his parliamentary suite; and that the victim said he wanted to order a taxi and leave but Ward encouraged him to stay at his house.

Ward showed the staffer to what the young man thought was a spare room and joined him in bed, where he digitally penetrated the victim while masturbating in the face of repeated resistance.

The young man continued to have friendly interactions with Ward as he grappled with the rape, and he reported it to police in May 2021 after earlier confiding in a friend and after Ward had been appointed families minister.

The political staffer testified that he did not immediately report the incident for fear of damaging the Liberal Party.

“There are many and good reasons why victims of sexual assault wait to report what has been done to them,” Shead said. She said the man “faced an entirely complicated set of circumstances”, including politics being “important to him” and that he thought Ward had “done good work” despite what had happened.

“The offending took place in a way that was connected with his professional life, and he quite reasonably feared repercussions for his career,” Shead said, adding the “courage and strength it takes to come forward”, particularly regarding public figures, “is immense and should not be underestimated”.

Victims suffer ongoing psychological impacts

Both victims submitted moving impact statements about the devastating and ongoing psychological effects they had endured.

The then-18-year-old described debilitating drug and alcohol problems, which caused instability and harm to his loved ones until he became sober seven years ago. He said frequent flashbacks continued to this day.

Alcohol was also a form of self-medication for the then-24-year-old victim, who still struggles with addiction. He described living in “a constant state of mistrust and suspicion”, and that being raped by “someone entrusted with protecting our most vulnerable” destroyed his dream of excelling in politics.

Shead said both men’s “candid and courageous” statements were “regrettably typical” of what courts saw in the aftermath of this offending.

“There is only one person who was at fault and who is to blame, and that is the offender,” she said.

Claims Ward suffered ‘extracurricular punishment’

Shead noted Ward had said that he had suffered extracurricular punishment due to his “fall from grace”, living with “stigma” and the “enormous amount of negative publicity”, including in media articles calling him “a rapist and disgraced MP” following his conviction.

But the judge rejected this, saying the media reporting was “an inevitable consequence” and “should not have been a surprise”.

“The loss of his career as a result is something the offender should have anticipated.”

Shead said Ward had shown no remorse or insight into his offending as he maintained his innocence.

However, she found he was unlikely to reoffend due to having no criminal record before or after the assaults committed a decade ago and his compliance with bail.

The assault accusations emerged when Ward was families, communities and disability services minister 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, but he returned following his re-election as an independent in his South Coast seat in 2023.

Ward’s sentence was backdated to July 30. He will be eligible for parole on April 29, 2029, and his aggregate sentence will expire on April 29, 2031.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. In an emergency contact 000.

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