Convicted rapist Gareth Ward has resigned from NSW Parliament, losing his taxpayer-funded salary and triggering a byelection in Kiama.
His resignation comes just moments before the parliament was set to vote on a motion to have him expelled.
Ward was last month found guilty of one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault against two young men he had met through his role as an MP.
The now former MP attempted this week to block the parliament from voting to expel him, taking his fight to the Supreme Court on Monday where he was granted an interim injunction barring the lower house from holding the vote.
On Thursday night he lost his final chance at hanging onto his job when the NSW Court of Appeal rejected Ward’s legal team’s arguments that the expulsion would be punitive, and that citing criminal convictions weren’t enough to demonstrate behaviour unworthy of parliament.
“The electorate of Kiama would be re-enfranchised by the holding of a byelection,” Chief Justice Andrew Bell said.
Source: Convicted rapist Gareth Ward resigns moments before parliament expels him