A policeman convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl has been denied a request for release, pending an appeal.

50-year-old Leslie Walker had been convicted in July last year and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Walker is to serve 10 years before being eligible for parole.

Allegations are that in February 2016, the complainant was on her way home from school when Walker who is said to be a family friend, offered her a ride.

Its further alleged that walker took the girl to his home where he allegedly raped her.

4 months later, in June 2016 the matter was reported to the police after it was discovered that the girl was pregnant.

Walker denied the allegations, claiming that at the time of the alleged incident he was at home and he had no contact with the girl.

4 years later, in 2020, DNA result that excluded walker as the father of the complainant’s child was tendered into evidence.

Last July, the court found Walker guilty of rape and he subsequently filed an appeal.

He also applied for bail, pending the hearing of the appeal.

Defence lawyers argued that the verdict of the judge was unreasonable having regard to all the evidence, that the prosecution should have established that the complainant was not intimate with any other person, and that no evidence was presented by the prosecution to rule out the possibility of the complainant’s child being fathered by someone else.

It was also argued that Walker is of good character, that he is likely to serve the greater portion of his sentence before the appeal is heard and that the appeal has a real prospect of success.

The prosecution objected to the bail application pointing out that no exceptional circumstance was advanced in support of the request.

Last week, Acting Court of Appeal Judge Evan Brown ruled that Walker must remain in custody until his appeal is heard.

In turning down the bail application, Justice Brown cited past cases with inordinate delays between conviction and the hearing of an appeal, stating that there is no reason to expect that a delay will affect Walker’s appeal.