Man allegedly raped by Gareth Ward quizzed on route he took to NSW MP's house
A political staffer has accepted he could be confused about his movements before and after he was allegedly sexually assaulted by a state MP who invited him to his house.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward, 44, is on trial in the New South Wales district court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault charges.
The jury was told he approached a young, drunk political staffer after a mid-week event at the NSW Parliament House in 2015 and offered him a place to stay for the night.
The political staffer – who cannot be named - told the jury on Thursday that taking a taxi home after the event would have incurred a fare of around $110.
He said he accepted Ward's offer to stay at his Potts Point apartment, where the politician poured him drinks and allegedly tried to kiss him before climbing into bed with him.
The complainant, aged 24 at the time and now in his 30s, became emotional on Wednesday while alleging Ward had groped his backside and sexually assaulted him despite him repeatedly saying 'no' and attempting to move away.
The jury was shown a video of the staffer taking police officers along the routes he believed he walked with Ward on the night of the alleged sexual assault and the next morning.
In the footage, he pointed out a building which he told police he was 'certain' contained Ward's apartment because of the views of Sydney Harbour.
The staffer said he remembered taking two different paths when walking to and from the apartment, but conceded he couldn't be precise because he had been intoxicated on the night.
Under cross-examination by Ward's barrister, he accepted he could have been confused about the way he travelled as opposed to remembering two distinct routes.
The staffer told police in his initial statement in 2021 that he couldn't remember what streets they took to get to the apartment, but he said his memory had since been jogged by retracing his steps.
In the video, he told police he remembered walking down steep stairs in the morning while walking back to the city with Ward.
But there was no mention of the stairs in his initial police statement, the court was told.
The political staffer said on Wednesday he was left feeling 'dirty' and 'confused' after the incident, and asked himself whether he had done something to invite the unwanted advances.
Ward is also accused of indecently assaulting an 18-year-old in 2013 after meeting the man at a networking event on NSW's south coast a year earlier.
The man claims the MP fondled his buttocks and scrotum, and gave him an unwanted back massage despite his repeated requests to stop.
Ward, who was charged over the alleged assaults in 2022, contests the allegations and his lawyers are expected to address jurors later in the trial.
He has held the Kiama electorate since 2011, winning three elections as a Liberal before securing the 2023 poll as an independent.
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I don't remember a time in my life when Chrissy wasn't in it. We were born 11 days apart and were both one when our families moved on to the same street in Geelong, a port city an hour south-west of Melbourne. We had a very Australian childhood; summers spent in our bathers, running through sprinklers; swimming in back yard pools; eating sausages in bread on New Year's Eve, when we were allowed to stay up late while our parents drank cask riesling with the neighbours, and we'd lie on the cool evening grass listening to crickets. During those blisteringly hot summer days of our childhood, we lived at the beach, where shark alarms were constant and the waves dangerous. Occasionally, Chrissy would paddle out on her inflatable red and blue raft to the big waves out the back where the serious surfers were. Sometimes, I'd panic when I'd lose sight of her, only to see her come rolling in on a massive wave, perched on top, laughing her head off. She was fearless. 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