Former NSW families minister Gareth Ward has been sentenced to at least three years and nine months in prison for raping a political staffer and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old man, both victims he met through his position of authority.

The 44-year-old former Kiama MP was convicted in July of indecently assaulting the teenager three times at his Shoalhaven home in 2013, and of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old staffer at his Potts Point apartment two years later.

The 44-year-old’s acts were “deliberate and predatory,” Judge Kara Shead said during sentencing at Parramatta District Court in western Sydney on Friday.

In raping one of his victims, he was aware the 24-year-old man had voiced his non-consent, the judge said.

“The offender knew that the victim was suffering discomfort an

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