New South Wales independent MP Gareth Ward allegedly raped a political staffer in his home in 2015 after he invited the man to stay over following an event at Parliament House, a court has heard.
Ward, who at the time of the alleged offending was the Liberal MP for Kiama, is facing an expected four-week trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre after being charged with five criminal offences.
The charges include sexual intercourse without consent against the then 24-year-old staffer in 2015, when Ward was 34. The other four charges relate to an 18-year-old man who Ward allegedly indecently assaulted in his home on the NSW south coast in February 2013, when Ward was 31.
In her opening address in day one of the trial on Tuesday, crown prosecutor Monika Knowles told the jury while Ward sat in the dock opposite that she would argue in both instances Ward was either reckless to the complainant’s consent or failed to consider whether they consented or not. In the case of the 24-year-old, she said she would also argue Ward knew the staffer did not consent because he did not have “reasonable grounds” to believe he did.
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Ward was elected the Liberal MP for Kiama in 2011 and was suspended from the party after the allegations came to light in 2022. He was then re-elected as an independent in 2023, and is the current MP for Kiama.
Ward has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges, and his defence lawyers are due to give opening arguments on Wednesday.
Knowles walked through the allegations against Ward for the jury, starting with the 18-year-old, whose identity – alongside the 24-year-old’s – will remain under a non-publication order.
Knowles said the crown alleged the 18-year-old met Ward at a business event in Bomaderry when he was 17. The court heard they struck up a friendship and the alleged victim then joined the Young Liberals.
The night of the alleged assault in 2013, the court heard the complainant ran into Ward in Nowra while on his way to a party with his then girlfriend, and Ward told the complainant during the interaction he might invite friends to his place.
The court heard the complainant had a fight with his girlfriend later that evening and left the party for Ward’s house after the pair had a phone conversation. The court heard when he got there he realised no one else was at Ward’s house.
The complainant continued to drink alcohol while at Ward’s house, the court heard. While he was in the back yard he pretended to pass out on the grass as a joke while Ward was inside.
When Ward found the 18-year-old, he “shook” him. Then he allegedly “slid” his hands into the complainant’s shorts and rubbed his buttocks and then moved his hand to his genitals. Knowles told the court that the complainant, who was in “shock and froze” then opened his eyes and “pretended as though he had just woken up”.
The court heard he told Ward he was going to go home, but Ward “steered” him towards the bedroom. While in bed, the court heard that Ward “mounted” the 18-year-old and massaged him. After the complainant told Ward to stop, “he did so eventually” and both went to sleep.
The 18-year-old continued to have contact socially and on a business level with Ward, the court heard, but he later cut this off. He contacted police in 2020.
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The alleged offending against the second complainant – the 24-year-old political staffer – allegedly occurred in 2015 when Ward was 34, the court heard. Knowles told the court the complainant reported the assault in 2021 after telling a friend.
The friend, who will appear before the court as a witness, knew both complainants and each had told her separately about what allegedly happened to them.
The court heard the 24-year-old was at the time working for another MP when Ward invited him to stay over after an event at Parliament House in 2015. The staffer lived a “fair way away” from Parliament House and was preparing himself for “a long journey ahead of him” when Ward asked if he would like to stay at his home in Potts Point.
The staffer alleges that when they got to Ward’s home the MP tried to kiss him, and the staffer let it happen “for a few seconds” but then pushed him away. Ward later showed the staffer to where he was sleeping, which the complainant alleges he assumed was a room he had to himself.
The complainant alleges he was in bed trying to get to sleep when Ward returned to the room and “tried to put his arm” over the complainant but he “kept moving away”.
Ward then allegedly put his hands in the staffer’s shorts and digitally penetrated him. He allegedly did not respond to the staffer’s request to stop.
The jury trial, before judge Kara Shead SC, continues.