Previous Down Under Public Figure Imprisoned for More Than 60 Months for Sex Crimes

A former public official sentenced of attacking two young men he met through professional activities has been sentenced to 69 months in jail.

Legal Proceedings

Gareth Ward, 44, has been in custody since July after judicial panel determined his guilt of raping an individual and indecently assaulting another individual, in different occasions in 2013 and 2015.

The politician acted for the seaside community of the district in the New South Wales legislature from the year 2011. He stepped down as a government cabinet member when accusations emerged in recent years but declined to leave parliament and returned to office in last year.

Sentencing Details

Justice the court official evaluated Ward's disability of legal blindness in the ruling and determined "no different consequence besides detention is appropriate".

The defendant, who appeared via remote connection at the courthouse, will undergo at least three years and nine months in detention before he can request conditional freedom.

The judge stated the legal system needs to "deliver a strong warning to similar individuals that illegal behaviors of this nature will be faced with salutary penalties".

Additional Information

The judge added the convicted man had "avoided punishment for multiple years and enjoyed a life without a programme or punishment for the offenses during that period".

After his conviction, the individual attempted a rejected legal bid to continue in parliament and left office moments before the congress could oust him.

Representatives has stated earlier he intends to appeal the conviction.

Trial Evidence

Ward's nine-week trial in the judicial venue learned that he invited a drunk teenager to his residence in the first incident and indecently assaulted him three times, despite the victim's efforts to fight back.

In 2015, he raped a 24-year-old government employee at his home after a function at parliament.

He had maintained the second incident didn't happen, and that the additional accuser was misremembering their meeting from 2013.

However, prosecutors argued that notable parallels in the accounts of the individuals, who had no connection to each other, proved they were accurate in their accounts.

Court members deliberated for multiple days before delivering the guilty verdicts.

Ward's resignation caused a replacement vote in his constituency in September, which was secured by the opposition party.