The NSW District Court has sentenced convicted sex offender and former MP Gareth Ward to five years and nine months in prison.
Ward was found guilty of four sexual assault offences in July.
He has been in prison while awaiting his sentence. The sentence carries a non-parole period of three years and nine months.
Ward submitted his resignation from NSW Parliament in August, shortly before a vote to expel him.
Background
Ward was first elected to State Parliament in 2011, and was a Minister in the previous Coalition Government.
Ward left the party when historic sexual abuse allegations against him surfaced four years ago.
He was re-elected as an independent for the seat of Kiama in 2023.
In July, Ward was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual intercourse without consent against two men aged 18 and 24 at the time.
Parliament vote
MPs aren’t automatically dismissed if criminal charges are laid against them.
Parliament can pass a rare motion to expel a member if their behaviour would bring the houses into “disrepute”.
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In August, the Supreme Court rejected Ward’s lawyers’ arguments against holding a vote for this motion while he was awaiting sentencing.
Ward resigned less than two hours before the vote was set to go ahead.
Kiama by-election
Ward’s resignation triggered a by-election in his electorate of Kiama on the NSW South Coast.
Since the electorate was created in 1981, it had only been represented by Labor MPs until Ward won the 2011 election as a Liberal.
A by-election to replace Ward was held on 13 September.
Labor candidate Katelin McInerney was elected with 60.19% of the two candidate preferred (TCP) vote over Liberal Serena Copley.
Sentence
Today, Ward was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.
This includes a non-parole period of three years and nine months.
The Guardian reported he could be released in April 2029, as his sentence is backdated to commence on 30 July this year.
His lawyers have indicated he intends to appeal the conviction. Ward’s legal team sought earlier this week to have him sentenced based on the law at the time of the alleged assault, not under the current law.
