this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
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A New South Wales (NSW) politician has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in Australia.

A jury found Gareth Ward - who is still a sitting member of state parliament - guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape.

Both of the victims, who were aged 18 and 24, said they were assaulted at Ward's home after meeting the 44-year-old through political circles between 2013 and 2015.

Ward resigned as a state government minister and from the Liberal Party when the accusations emerged in 2021, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected as the member for Kiama in 2023.

The jury deliberated for three days after hearing nine weeks of evidence in the NSW District Court.

The trial heard Ward had invited a drunk 18-year-old man to his home in 2013 and indecently assaulted him three times, despite his attempts to resist.

Two years later, he raped a political staffer after an event at parliament.

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[–] WatDabney@sopuli.xyz 84 points 2 days ago (11 children)

Holy hell.

He looks like he's imagining raping the photographer.

[–] Lodespawn@aussie.zone 15 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The wild bit is that this is clearly a photo he took to promote himself as a politician and people actively voted for him. "Ohh that rapey looking serial killer dude is totally going to do good things for our community, I'm sure hes just brimming with empathy and a strong drive to achieve good things for other people .."

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He also won re-election running as an independent, well after the rape charges were known and he was kicked out of his party and suspended from parliament. But that wasn't enough for the people of his electorate to go: "Err maybe this rapist isn't the best option to represent us."

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do have a tendency to live in a vacuum, but news gets to me every now and then. This is the first time I ever hear of this guy and the rape charges, so whatever happened has to have been hushed to a degree. Not even top ten in australian politics until now I guess.

[–] sepi@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

"I do have a tendency to live in a vacuum" <- this precisely is how politicians get away with it. And they don't have to do anything. People just don't look into things. Worldwide phenomenon. You are doing it to yourself.

[–] Lodespawn@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

Far out, I mean the rapist is a POS but that really says something about the liberal voters in that electorate ..

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