One of two complainants in the trial of Kiama MP Gareth Ward in Downing Centre District Court on Thursday was questioned under cross examination about his ability to recall details of the morning after the alleged incident.

A former political staffer who was aged 24 at the time has accused Ward of sexually assaulting him in 2015 at Potts Point in Sydney’s east.

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.

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

On Thursday, the NSW District Court was shown a video of the man in 2021 showing a police officer the route that was taken from NSW Parliament to Ward’s apartment in Potts Point on the night of the incident.

Under cross-examination from David Campbell SC, counsel for Ward, the man was challenged about his ability to recall key events from the night in question and the morning after when compared to his original police statement.

He was asked why he walked back to NSW Parliament the next morning with Ward rather than make a short walk to Kings Cross Station to catch a train

And he was also challenged over whether the pair stopped for a coffee and banana bread at a hospital cafe when that was not mentioned in his original police statement.

The complainant said the cafe details were not in his original statement because he had not yet retraced his steps when he submitted it.

He had previously told the Court that he had consumed “three to four glasses of wine” and after he had gone to bed in a spare bedroom that the former NSW Cabinet Minister groped his backside and sexually assaulted him.

The trial continues and is expected to run for another three weeks.