The political staffer who is one of two complainants in the trial of Gareth Ward was questioned in Downing Centre District Court over the use of the word “love” when referring to the Kiama MP.

The man was asked on Monday via video link by Ward’s defence counsel, David Campbell SC, why he used the term “love” when referring to the politician in text messages after an incident in Sydney’s east in 2015.

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 Monday at the start of the second week of the trial, a former political staffer who was aged 24 at the time was questioned over messages he had sent to Ward in 2016 and 2017.

The man has accused Ward of sexually assaulting him in 2015 at the politician’s Potts Point apartment.

He said that he often used words like “love” and “dear” when conversing “to everyone in my circle, it's just something that I do”.

“It's not love as in physical love. It’s love as in, ‘I said love, I said darl, I said pet’, that kind of thing.”

Campbell responded by saying the terms were a form of endearment but the complainant said “they may have been the words used by somebody who is overcompensating”.

He also denied overtly showing affection to Ward in email correspondence and said he could not recall attending a party where the Kiama MP was also in attendance in 2016.

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 trial continues before Judge Kara Shead and is expected to run for another 2-3 weeks.

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