A man sexually abused by a former families minister feared the politician would get to him before he could tell his story, a court has been told.

The case against Gareth Ward returned to the NSW District Court on Friday for a sentence hearing after the former state MP was found guilty of sexually assaulting a political staffer in 2015 and sexually abusing a drunken 18-year-old in 2013.

As a judge prepares to seal the disgraced Kiama MP's fate, the first victim laid out the ways Ward's abuse had altered his life.

"I was fearful that Gareth would get to me before I had the chance to give evidence," he wrote in a statement read to the court.

That fear increased several weeks before the trial while the man was on a walk with his son.

Noticing a voicemail, he listened to the sound of two g

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