Former Kiama MP Gareth Ward’s sentencing has been delayed with Judge Kara Shead now expected to hand down his punishment on Friday at the NSW District Court.

Ward appeared in the Parramatta Court - via video link from Cessnock Correctional Centre - on Wednesday where he was due to learn his fate after being found guilty of four sexual assault offences.

However, Judge Shead announced that she had received an application to consider whether the former NSW Families Minister should be sentenced under the practices that were applied at the time of his offences more than a decade ago or according to modern-day standards.

The Crown believes Judge Shead should adapt her sentence to the current practices while Ward’s legal counsel believe his punishment should be in line with the standards of the 2013-15 period when he abused two young men in separate incidents.

Ward’s counsel and the Crown will enter further submissions before Judge Shead hands down her sentence on Friday.

It was the first time the 44-year-old convicted rapist had appeared in Court since 9 October when his lawyer pleaded for leniency in sentencing after he was found guilty in late July.

He was found guilty in late July over an incident involving a political staffer, aged 24 at the time, at Potts Point in Sydney’s east a decade ago and another incident involving a recently turned 18-year-old at the former politician’s Meroo Meadow home in 2013.

Ward’s barrister, David Campbell SC, said his client would not re-offend, telling Judge Kara Shead “the courts will not see him again" after he had been "publicly exposed".

Campbell said it was “objectively a very humiliating experience" for Ward which has had “a serious impact on his life, his status and every aspect of his being".

He told the Court that Ward should receive a sentence of conditional liberty outside prison.

Crown Prosecutor Monika Knowles told the Court that nobody could be assured that he would not offend again.

She told the Court there were “some very disturbing matters” in this case and that the “elephant in the room” was that Ward had not explained how these incidents occurred.

In his only public statement since he was found guilty, Ward said he was "absolutely shattered with the result of the trial".

Ward’s resignation in early August, less than an hour before he was due to be expelled from NSW Parliament, triggered a by-election in Kiama with Labor rival Katelin McInerney, the narrow runner-up to Ward at the 2022 poll, winning in a landslide.

He had held the state seat since 2011, initially for more than a decade as a Liberal Party representative before contesting the election three years ago as an Independent.

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