Australian state lawmaker and convicted rapist, Gareth Ward, quit his seat in parliament on Friday moments before a vote brought forward by his former colleagues to eject him was set to take place.

Ward, an independent member of parliament in the state of New South Wales, refused to resign earlier despite his conviction in July for sex crimes against two young men.

He failed in a legal bid on Thursday to stop his colleagues from taking the rare action of forced expulsion against him.

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The lawmaker, who is in jail as he awaits sentencing, sexually assaulted a political staffer after a parliamentary event in 2015 and abused an 18-year-old at the politician’s home in 2013.

His sentencing on one count of sexual intercourse without

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