this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
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A New South Wales (NSW) politician has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men in Australia.

A jury found Gareth Ward - who is still a sitting member of state parliament - guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape.

Both of the victims, who were aged 18 and 24, said they were assaulted at Ward's home after meeting the 44-year-old through political circles between 2013 and 2015.

Ward resigned as a state government minister and from the Liberal Party when the accusations emerged in 2021, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected as the member for Kiama in 2023.

The jury deliberated for three days after hearing nine weeks of evidence in the NSW District Court.

The trial heard Ward had invited a drunk 18-year-old man to his home in 2013 and indecently assaulted him three times, despite his attempts to resist.

Two years later, he raped a political staffer after an event at parliament.

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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Which ventriloquist did this nightmare escape from?

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago

Right winged politicians trying not to give you uncanny valley vibes.

Level: Ḯ̵̢̛̞̳̟̩͇̳̜͔̲͇̬͗͐̒̓͐͊͜͝ͅm̸͕̹̖͛̅̆́p̵̭͈̖͍̖̤͚̻̳̫͔̞͙͂͜ȍ̵̲͉̻̰͈̘̹̫͚̰̲͋͗̎͒̔̓͝ś̶͚̮̥̍̈́̈̀͛̆̒͝͠ş̵̯̟̭̥͕̘̉̔̄̍̀̒͘̕i̶̡͍̝͍̟̼̯̰̺͙̙̟͐̐͜͜b̶̧̖͔̦̈͗͂l̶̨̪̘̗̮̲̯̞̺̲̹̣̫̟̐͌͋̀͜͝ẻ̶̟͖̘̮̤̮̳̓

[–] Treetrimmer@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Must have been an easy case seeing as nobody would fuck this dude willingly

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

banging an uggo is like a whole kink these days. it's like the nsfw trashy subreddits.

[–] WatDabney@sopuli.xyz 85 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Holy hell.

He looks like he's imagining raping the photographer.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (3 children)

he looks like a deranged oompaloompa who fell into a vat of hair bleach, too.

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

c/rareinsults

[–] WatDabney@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 day ago
[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

sunbleached all the melanin off him, in the australian outback of course. i know they cause darkening of the skin, but it can happen in reverse with sun damage.

[–] Lodespawn@aussie.zone 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The wild bit is that this is clearly a photo he took to promote himself as a politician and people actively voted for him. "Ohh that rapey looking serial killer dude is totally going to do good things for our community, I'm sure hes just brimming with empathy and a strong drive to achieve good things for other people .."

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He also won re-election running as an independent, well after the rape charges were known and he was kicked out of his party and suspended from parliament. But that wasn't enough for the people of his electorate to go: "Err maybe this rapist isn't the best option to represent us."

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do have a tendency to live in a vacuum, but news gets to me every now and then. This is the first time I ever hear of this guy and the rape charges, so whatever happened has to have been hushed to a degree. Not even top ten in australian politics until now I guess.

[–] sepi@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

"I do have a tendency to live in a vacuum" <- this precisely is how politicians get away with it. And they don't have to do anything. People just don't look into things. Worldwide phenomenon. You are doing it to yourself.

[–] Lodespawn@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

Far out, I mean the rapist is a POS but that really says something about the liberal voters in that electorate ..

He's definitely a rapey looking dude with a touch of serial-killer thrown in

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

Not gonna lie, if someone said that about me, I’d probably start crying. This guy lives in a reality so utterly malicious and repugnant that even minor jokes about him breach social decorum. Jesus

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Always the ones you most expect...

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You mean there are countries where people in positions of power are still held accountable for their crimes? Laws are supposed to apply to everyone? Imagine

[–] Openopenopenopen@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I would imagine in America this guy would lose his job because of this. Not because there is accountability for raping young women in america, but because convicted rapist Garett Ward raped two MEN.

American “Christians” hate gay sex more than anything else, except for maybe trans folks playing sports.

[–] Bunbury@feddit.nl 15 points 1 day ago

Saw the headline, saw the picture. Thought “well, he sure looks like the shoe would fit…” felt a bit guilty. Came to look at the comments. Lol.

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean, can’t judge a book by its cover but you can judge it by its veneers and sociopath glasses.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

And that dead smile underneath those dead eyes.

[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Damn he could make a great US president.

[–] sepi@piefed.social 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The victims were too old. The GOP would not allow this.

[–] Openopenopenopen@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

And the victims are men. I’m pretty sure that man on man action is verboten to the GOP.

[–] sepi@piefed.social 1 points 3 hours ago

Not according to Grindr at the CPAC

[–] Carvex@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That face looks like the last thing you’ll see as the boot closes

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or trunk, for Americans. It took me way too long to get that.

[–] Carvex@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

He’s Strayan so I figured I’d use their terminology

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This man looks like the evil Karl Jobst.

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I was going to say he looks like he could be Karl Jobst's father.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

is he albino.

[–] notsure@fedia.io -1 points 1 day ago

...do you australian riff-raff not have laws about this?... /s