It’s been a truly wild day in news, but just when you thought it couldn’t get any more insane, a NSW MP was found sleepwalking naked and “disorientated.”
Yes, amid the news of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson getting coronavirus, the stimulus package, the NBA being cancelled, Bachelor in Paradise announcements and every other crazy news story today, this truly wild story was almost forgotten about.
New South Wales Families, Communities and Disability Services Minister Gareth Ward was escorted home by police last night after being found naked outside of his home in Sydney’s inner east, according to ABC.
Police were called to his Potts Point apartment at approximately 11.30pm on Wednesday night following reports that a naked man was trying to get into an apartment that was not his own home.
“Officers from Kings Cross Police Area Command attended a short time later, locating a naked man standing in the doorway of another unit, and after determining that was his residence, escorted him inside,” a NSW Police statement read.
Mr Ward allegedly refused to be taken to hospital by paramedics following the ordeal, despite claims from police that he “appeared to be disorientated.”
The Minister and member for Kiama has since released a statement asserting that his disorientation was a result of being under “general anaesthetic for a procedure” in hospital earlier on Wednesday. Mr Ward has been in hospital twice this week and recently underwent surgery for kidney stones, according to SMH.
Police returned to the property an hour later amid reports that the 38-year-old Minister was walking around the apartment’s common area in his underpants just after midnight on Thursday morning.
He again refused medical treatment, but was escorted back to his residence by police.
Police returned to the property on Thursday morning to check in on Ward and discuss the ordeal, recommending that he see his GP “given the man’s state of confusion during the evening.”
In a statement on Thursday, Mr Ward thanked police for “returning me to my residence safely.”
Thankfully, it appears Mr Ward escaped the ordeal uninjured, albeit disorientated following his recent surgery.
Gareth Ward made history as the state’s first disability minister to actually have a disability (albinism and legal blindness), in a win for inclusivity and representation in government positions.
No charges have been made against Ward and police are unlikely to take further action.
