A woman who was a mutual acquaintance of both complainants in the Gareth Ward sexual assault trial has told the NSW District Court that they were scared of coming forward to report allegations about the Kiama MP.

The trial was interrupted during the week when a burst water main led to the closure of the Downing Centre Court complex with proceedings switched to Darlinghurst Courthouse.

Ward is facing five charges and has pleaded not guilty to each of them: sexual intercourse without consent, common assault and three counts of indecent assault.

On Thursday, a political staffer took the stand to detail evidence about conversations she had with each complainant who has made allegations against Ward.

The older complainant was 24 at the time when he alleged Ward sexually assaulted him at the Kiama MP’s Potts Points apartment a decade ago.

Another man, who had just turned 18 at the time of an alleged incident in 2013, has also accused Ward of an indecent assault at the Kiama MP’s Meroo Meadow property in the Shoalhaven.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spoke with the older complainant in 2020 after seeing a social media post in which he alluded to a suicide attempt.

She said the man blamed himself for the alleged incident and "he kept apologising”.

In response, she told him that “it was not his fault, regardless of what happened”.

The woman shed tears as she told the Court that she encouraged the man to report the incident to police but the complainant was concerned that Ward had “a lot of power”.

Earlier in the trial, the complainant alleged that after he went to Ward’s apartment to go to sleep in a spare bedroom, the politician sexually assaulted him.

Ward’s barrister, David Sullivan SC, has previously told the Court that the alleged incident did not happen.

On Thursday, the woman also said the younger complainant contacted her later that year to allege that Ward had assaulted him in 2013 at the politician’s Shoalhaven home.

The younger complainant sounded distraught, according to her testimony, and he had told her that the incident had led him to serious drug use.

The trial before Judge Shead, continues.

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