{"id":186912,"date":"2026-07-11T14:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nuevaonda.com\/actor-michael-ward-acquitted-of-assault-charges\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T14:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:16:09","slug":"actor-michael-ward-acquitted-of-assault-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuevaonda.com\/en\/actor-michael-ward-acquitted-of-assault-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor Michael Ward Acquitted of Assault Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nuevaonda.com\/en\/tom-holland-captivates-in-new-trailer-for-spider-man-brand-new-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">British<\/a> actor Michael Ward, known for series such as &#8220;Top Boy&#8221; and &#8220;Small Axe,&#8221; was acquitted Friday of two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against a woman, allegedly committed on January 2, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Ward, 28, burst into tears upon hearing the jury&#8217;s verdict in a Snaresbrook courtroom in East London, at the conclusion of a trial that began following his arrest on January 18 of that year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_186906\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186906\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-186906 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nuevaonda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sin-titulo-51.jpg\" alt=\"Actor Michael Ward Acquitted of Assault Charges\" width=\"1200\" height=\"2021\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-186906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO: Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking outside the courthouse, his attorney, Humzah Ilyas, said the actor is &#8220;grateful&#8221; for the ruling and explained that over the past three and a half years, &#8220;his life, as well as his successful career, have been put on hold,&#8221; which had a \u201cprofound impact\u201d on him and his loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>Ilyas added that Ward, who has always maintained that the relationship was consensual, now hopes to &#8220;return to the work he loves&#8221; and focus on the future, while acknowledging that allegations from people who say they have suffered sexual violence must be &#8220;taken seriously.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During the trial, the interpreter explained that the sexual encounters with the woman in the back seats of two different cars during a night out in East London were consensual, and he maintained that she never indicated that she wanted to stop what was happening or get out of the car.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_186907\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186907\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-186907 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nuevaonda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sin-titulo2-49.jpg\" alt=\"Actor Michael Ward Acquitted of Assault Charges\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1939\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-186907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO: Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Born in Jamaica and raised in the United Kingdom, Ward won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020 and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series in 2021 for his role in &#8216;Small Axe&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He has also appeared in films such as &#8220;Blue Story&#8221; and &#8220;Empire of Light&#8221; in 2022, which earned him another BAFTA nomination, according to Agencia EFE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British actor Michael Ward, known for series such as &#8220;Top Boy&#8221; and &#8220;Small Axe,&#8221; was acquitted Friday of two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against a woman, allegedly committed on January 2, 2023. Ward, 28, burst into tears upon hearing the jury&#8217;s verdict in a Snaresbrook courtroom in East London, at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":186911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"nueva_video_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55,73],"tags":[798,784,240],"class_list":["post-186912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-famous","tag-entretenimiento-en","tag-famosos-en","tag-television-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Actor Michael Ward Acquitted of Assault Charges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"British actor Michael Ward, known for the series &quot;Top Boy&quot; and &quot;Small Axe,&quot; has been acquitted of sexual 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