The NSW District Court has been told that Kiama MP Gareth Ward encouraged a teenager to drink alcohol before allegedly indecently assaulting the recently turned 18-year-old at the politician’s Meroo Meadow home in 2013.

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.

He was charged three years ago following complaints against him from a man, aged 24 at the time, over an alleged incident at Potts Point in Sydney’s east a decade ago and another allegation from two years earlier at his Shoalhaven property.

On Tuesday, the younger complainant told the Darlinghurst Courthouse that Ward offered to pay his taxi fare after he had been at a party so that he could come to his home.

The complainant said he was taken aback by the fact that nobody else was at the home and that they drunk alcohol at his house.

“He encouraged me to continue drinking,” he told the jury.

The man then said he pulled a prank on Ward by pretending to be passed out on the grass in his backyard.

Crown Prosecutor Monika Knowles has told the Court that police allege Ward indecently assaulted the teenager as he lay on the grass and then again inside in his bedroom.

The man, who gave evidence from a remote location, said he was 17 when he first met Ward.

The trial, which is into its fifth week before Judge Shead, continues.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028