Former Down Under Lawmaker Jailed for Above Five Years for Sex Crimes
One-time lawmaker sentenced of assaulting two young men connected through work received a sentence to 69 months in prison.
Legal Proceedings
The former official, 44, has been in prison since mid-year after the court convicted him of sexually assaulting an individual and attacking another, in multiple events in over two years.
The politician acted for the coastal town of the district in the New South Wales government from over a decade ago. He left his position as a Liberal Party cabinet member when the claims emerged in recent years but refused to quit the legislature and won again in 2023.
Court Ruling
Justice the judicial figure considered his visual impairment of legal blindness in her sentence and concluded "no other penalty besides incarceration is appropriate".
The convicted individual, who was present via digital means at the judicial venue, will undergo at minimum three years and nine months in prison before he can seek parole.
The judge said the court needs to "send a stern message to like-minded offenders that criminal acts of this nature will be faced with salutary penalties".
Case Background
She also said the convicted man had "avoided punishment for multiple years and experienced freedom without a programme or punishment for his actions during that period".
Post-trial, Ward initiated a rejected legal bid to continue in parliament and resigned just prior to the members could expel him.
Defense attorneys has stated earlier he aims to appeal the ruling.
Incident Details
The defendant's nine-week trial in the NSW District Court was told that he brought a inebriated young adult to his residence in 2013 and sexually abused him on multiple occasions, despite resistance attempts to fight back.
In 2015, he attacked a mid-twenties office worker at his residence after a gathering at government offices.
The defendant had maintained the second incident never occurred, and that the additional accuser was misremembering their encounter from the earlier year.
However, prosecutors contended that significant resemblances in the statements of the victims, who had no connection to each other, showed they were being honest.
Court members deliberated for 72 hours before delivering the findings of guilt.
Ward's resignation prompted a special election in the district in September, which was secured by the opposition party.
