Former Down Under Public Figure Jailed for Above Five Years for Criminal Acts
One-time Australian politician sentenced of sexually abusing two victims connected through his position has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.
Trial Information
Gareth Ward, forty-four, remained in prison since July after judicial panel determined his guilt of raping an individual and indecently assaulting a second person, in separate incidents in 2013 and 2015.
The defendant served the coastal town of the district in the NSW legislature from the year 2011. He resigned as a political party cabinet member when the claims surfaced in 2021 but refused to quit parliament and was re-elected in 2023.
Court Ruling
The presiding officer the judicial figure evaluated his visual impairment of legal blindness in the ruling and found "no other penalty except for incarceration is appropriate".
Ward, who appeared via digital means at the courthouse, will serve at minimum nearly four years in custody before he can request conditional freedom.
The judge declared the court needs to "issue a clear statement to potential criminals that illegal behaviors of this nature will be met with serious punishments".
Further Details
She also said the defendant had "evaded consequences for a decade and enjoyed a life without a programme or penalty for his crimes during that period".
After his conviction, the individual initiated a unsuccessful legal bid to remain in government and resigned just prior to the members could remove him.
Defense attorneys has stated earlier he plans to challenge the guilty verdict.
Case Facts
Ward's nine-week trial in the NSW District Court heard that he asked a drunk 18-year-old man to his residence in the first incident and attacked him repeatedly, despite the victim's efforts to oppose.
Two years later, he raped a young office worker at his residence after a gathering at parliament.
The defendant had claimed the 2015 rape didn't happen, and that the additional accuser was inaccurate regarding their meeting from 2013.
But the prosecution maintained that striking similarities in the accounts of the victims, who were unacquainted with one another, proved they were accurate in their accounts.
Court members debated for three days before returning the findings of guilt.
The political exit caused a special election in Kiama in September, which was won by the opposition party.
