Previous Down Under Public Figure Jailed for Above Five Years for Sex Crimes
One-time public official convicted of assaulting two young men encountered via professional activities has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.
Trial Information
The former official, forty-four, was in prison since last summer after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting a victim and attacking another individual, in separate incidents in 2013 and 2015.
Ward acted for the oceanfront municipality of the district in the NSW parliament from the year 2011. He left his position as a government official when the claims emerged in 2021 but declined to leave his seat and was re-elected in 2023.
Sentencing Details
Justice the court official considered his visual impairment of vision impairment in the judgment and concluded "no other penalty besides detention would be suitable".
The convicted individual, who participated via video-link at the judicial venue, will serve at minimum 45 months in detention before he can request conditional freedom.
Justice Shead declared the judicial system needs to "send a stern message to similar individuals that criminal acts like these will be faced with serious punishments".
Additional Information
Additionally stated the convicted man had "escaped justice for multiple years and lived freely without a rehabilitation program or penalty for his actions during those years".
After his conviction, the individual launched a failed appeal attempt to continue in his position and left office just prior to the congress could remove him.
Representatives has stated earlier he aims to contest the ruling.
Incident Details
Ward's extended court case in the NSW District Court learned that he asked a drunk teenager to his residence in 2013 and sexually abused him on multiple occasions, despite the victim's efforts to oppose.
Subsequently, he raped a 24-year-old office worker at his residence after a gathering at government offices.
Ward had argued the 2015 rape was fabricated, and that the first victim was misremembering their encounter from 2013.
But the prosecution maintained that striking similarities in the accounts of the individuals, who had no connection to the other, proved they were accurate in their accounts.
The panel debated for multiple days before delivering the findings of guilt.
His departure caused a by-election in Kiama in last fall, which was won by the Labor candidate.
