Indian-ethnic police officer loses judicial appeal in Canada

Mandip Sandhu, a police constable of Indian descent in Canada's Toronto city, has been taken into custody to serve a 15-month jail term after an appeal of his conviction and sentence for sexually assaulting a masseuse was dismissed.

In written reasons, Justice Brian O'Marra on Wednesday dismissed several grounds of appeal raised by Sandhu's lawyers, Alan Gold and Melanie Webb, and upheld both the conviction and sentence, the Toronto Star reported.

"The appellant was convicted of a crime involving sexual violence and an egregious abuse of public trust and authority. The length and manner of serving this custodial sentence do not reflect an error in principle, nor is the sentence demonstrably unfit," said O'Marra.

Sandhu, who had been an officer for 11 years prior to his arrest in 2010, was sentenced in June 2013 after a three-day trial that ended in conviction.