By Perry Duffin
A young man claims former Liberal MP Gareth Ward sexually abused him when he was a teenager, telling a jury the politician put his hands down his pants then took him to bed.
The second complainant in Ward’s trial said he came forward after learning Ward had been appointed the minister responsible for foster children, likening the MP to a “vampire” in charge of a blood bank.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward is on trial over the alleged indecent assault of one man and alleged rape of another.Credit: Steven Siewert
Ward has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent against a man who was 24 at the time, as well as three counts of assault with an act of indecency involving the then 18-year-old man, and an alternate charge of common assault against the younger man.
Ward, the MP for Kiama, met the teenager at an event in late 2012. The following year Ward allegedly paid for a taxi to collect the 18-year-old from a party, to bring him to the MP’s Meroo Meadow home south of Wollongong so he could comfort the teenager about his girlfriend.
The complainant told the court Ward had “fixed us drinks” before they moved outside, where the boy pretended to pass out on the grass as a prank.
Ward rushed to his side, the complainant told the court on Wednesday, as he lay on the grass.
“I thought, ‘this prank is going well, I got him’,” the complainant said.
“He put his hand down my pants, I felt his hand go onto my buttocks. I basically froze. I went from being in a bad mood earlier in the night to being very positive, fun, joking with Gareth.”
The complainant said Ward’s hand moved around to the front of his shorts, touched his thigh and then brushed his genitals.
“I felt like I just shrivelled inside myself – it was the most awkward feeling ever,” the complainant said.
“He was breathing heavily, a heavy breath, I don’t know if it was because he had just run over to me. But that heavy breath and the skin-on-skin (contact) have just stuck with me about that exact moment.”
The complainant said he then pretended to jolt awake and stood up and told Ward he wanted to go to bed as they headed into the home.
Ward allegedly told the boy it wasn’t safe for him to sleep alone, and “steered” the teenager into his bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, the complainant told the court, Ward “mounted” him as he lay face down on the bed.
“He was basically sitting on my bum, he started massaging my lower back with his hands,” the complainant said.
“I froze again and, after not too long, I told him to stop and said ‘No, I’m going to sleep’.”
“I just wanted this situation to end as quickly as possible.”
The complainant said Ward told him to relax, and said he had done a course in massage before ultimately stopping.
Over the following days and weeks, the teenager and Ward messaged each other, the court heard.
The complainant told the court he confided in a friend about what allegedly happened at Ward’s home shortly after the alleged assault.
The teenager’s friend said it was “obviously going to happen”, and joked the teenager was “gay for it”, the court heard.
The complainant told the court he came forward to police around 2020 after learning Ward had been given the position of Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in Gladys Berejiklian’s government.
The complainant said he read that portfolio had parental responsibility for all children in foster care.
“I felt basically that a vampire was running the blood bank, and that I had a responsibility that I needed to get it on the record,” the man told the court.
“I was very distressed by it, and also very scared of what (reporting the allegation) would involve.
“Gareth’s a pretty powerful person.”
However, in the immediate aftermath of the alleged assault, the teenager decided he needed to put the incident aside. At about that time, the complainant was receiving work through the Young Liberals and Ward.
“I had all these opportunities here related to Gareth and the Young Libs,” the complainant told the court.
“If I wanted any of that to pan out, I just needed to put that totally in the back of my mind and pretend it didn’t happen and just go on with being Gareth’s bro.”
He told the court that at the time he saw Ward as a significant public person.
“Apart from that one night, it was kind of like just having any other friend,” the complainant said of Ward.
“But then there was always the dynamic of knowing that he was in this powerful role locally, and that he was a very well-connected person.
“If I were to just say, ‘Screw this, I don’t want to be friends with Gareth at all’, I would be losing more than just my friendship with Gareth.”
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