Kiama MP Gareth Ward trial on sexual assault allegations to be held in Sydney next year

A date has been set for the trial of independent state MP Gareth Ward, charged with sexual assault offences stemming from two separate incidents in 2013 and 2015.

Kiama independent MP Gareth Ward will stand trial on historic sexual assault allegations in Sydney in April, next year.

Judge John Pickering determined the charges of sexual intercourse without consent, three counts of assault with an act of indecency and one count of common assault would be heard together.

Mr Ward, who was re-elected as the state member for Kiama in the recent election, pleaded not guilty to the charges last month.

The allegations led to Mr Ward being booted from the Liberal party room and moving to the crossbench before being suspended from parliament when charges were laid in March, last year.

Mr Ward has been on bail since and he has strenuously denied the allegations, including telling the media after his March appearance in Nowra District Court he would “prove his innocence”.

NSW MP Gareth Ward (left) outside Downing Centre Courthouse with his instructing solicitor Robert Foster. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to say about this case, but I am prohibited from saying what I’d like to say,” he said.

“This matter is something that’s been dragging on for the last two years and it has been a really difficult two years, but I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to prove my innocence.”

Ward and his high-profile legal team appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, more than a week on from Judge John Pickering hearing submissions about where the trial should take place and if the matter should be severed into separate trials.

Police allege the incidents took place at Potts Point in 2015 and in Meroo Meadow two years prior.

It is alleged Ward indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy at Meroo Meadow in February, 2013, and sexually abused a 27-year-old man in Sydney in September, 2015.

In court on Thursday, Judge Pickering determined it was “in the interests of justice” for the matter to be run as one trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

The trial will commence on Monday, April 8, 2024 with the court hearing it is estimated to take three weeks.

Ward is represented by David Campbell SC, junior barrister Ed Anderson and instructing solicitor Robert Foster who were the trio hired by St George Illawarra Dragons forward Jack de Belin after he was hit with multiple sexual assault charges.

De Belin was cleared in May, 2021, after two trials were unable to reach a verdict and the charges were dropped.