Kiama Independent MP Gareth Ward was taken into custody and will be sent to jail after his bail was revoked on Wednesday afternoon following last Friday’s guilty verdict on four sexual assault charges.

Ward returned to the NSW District Court on Wednesday afternoon where Crown Prosecutor Monika Knowles requested that the 44-year-old politician should be detained after he was found guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault at the conclusion of his nine-week trial.

His defence counsel, Edward Anderson, opposed the request to revoke his bail due to the nature of his crimes and that his vision meant he was nearly legally blind due to his oculocutaneous albinism.

Anderson told the Darlinghurst Courthouse that Ward would be vulnerable to physical violence from other inmates due to his public profile.

The Prosecutor argued that the former NSW Families, Communities and Disability Services Minister’s situation did not constitute the “special or exceptional circumstances” required to continue bail.

Judge Kara Shead agreed that Ward should be sent to jail and provisions would be made so that electronic devices that he requires to communicate would be accessible so that he could prepare for a possible appeal against his convictions.

He was handcuffed and taken from the Downing Centre Court in Sydney's CBD to Silverwater Correctional Centre.

Ward was escorted from the dock by court officers and taken into custody.

He will face Court again on 19 September for sentencing.

Ward’s fall from grace has led to NSW Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman calling on him to resign from Parliament.

They have indicated that they will make moves to not just suspend him but expel him when Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

This would trigger a by-election for the Kiama state electorate in the coming months and almost certainly bring an end to Ward’s political career after more than 20 years in public office as a Shoalhaven councillor and then NSW Member of Parliament.

He was charged by police three years ago after complaints against Ward from a man, aged 24 at the time, over an incident at Potts Point in Sydney’s east a decade ago.

Ward was also accused of indecently assaulting a recently turned 18-year-old at the politician’s Meroo Meadow home in 2013.

Parliament has the power to expel Ward under the NSW Consitution which allows for an MP's seat to be declared vacant if convicted of a crime which carries a jail term of five years or more.

Ward was accused of digitally penetrating a political staffer in the Potts Point incident and performing a sex act without the other man's consent.

He was also accused of mounting the 18-year-old in the Shoalhaven incident as he lay face down on a bed to perform a massage and also of touching him on the genitals without consent earlier in the evening while the teenager was lying on the lawn.

He retained the seat of Kiama at the most recent election in 2023 as an independent, after he left the Liberal Party when it emerged that he was the subject of a criminal investigation.

The Premier said on Monday said it was "ridiculous" that Ward was able, under the NSW Constitution, to retain his seat even after he had been convicted of such serious offences.

“You name me one workplace in the world where that person would continue to be an employee facing that kind of jail time,” he said.

"We are not dealing with hypotheticals any more. He has been convicted."

Minns has indicated the NSW Government will take steps to protect the Legislative Assembly’s integrity because Ward's position is "no longer tenable".

Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald has written to the NSW Government to emphasise the importance of local representation and request clarity on what Parliament will do following Ward's guilty verdict on sexual assault charges.

Councillor McDonald issued a statement on Tuesday to say Council is seeking "clarification on what the next steps will be from the NSW Parliament in relation to this matter".

“On behalf of the residents of Kiama municipality, I have respectfully urged the NSW Parliament to take swift and decisive action in this matter, keeping in mind the vital importance of local representation in maintaining the public's faith in our political system," he wrote.

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