An award-winning indigenous artist jailed for child sex crimes has lost a bid for release on bail.
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A Canberra judge has also refused to halt sentencing proceedings against Dennis Michael Nona, 40.
An ACT Supreme Court jury found Nona guilty in July last year of eight sexual offences.
He was sentenced to seven years and six months' jail, backdated to August 2012, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.
He is eligible for release on May 9, 2016.
But Nona's legal team has appealed the conviction and sentence on the grounds that the verdicts were unsafe and the sentence did not take into account rehabilitation factors.
The Crown has filed a cross-appeal and will argue the sentence was manifestly inadequate.
Nona applied to have the sentences stayed and to be released on bail pending the appeal hearing, which is expected in November.
An applicant for bail pending appeal must show special or exceptional circumstances.
The Torres Strait Islander – who was born on Badu Island, north of Queensland – was a highly regarded indigenous artist. He has had works exhibited in leading galleries across Australia and elsewhere.
He has won prestigious prizes, including the $40,000 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander award for his sculpture of a crocodile with a man on its back.
During the bail application, the court heard Nona was the father of six children to two women and paid about $1500 a month in child support.
He pays the support from the proceeds of sales of his work, which he claims he cannot undertake while in jail.
The court heard he had been commissioned for two international projects, which required him to work in Brisbane.
Nona's cousin offered to let him stay at his Canberra home while on bail.
Nona's barrister, Shane Gill, argued that there were good prospects for the pending appeal's success, which would support Nona's bail bid.
But Justice Richard Refshauge rejected the applications for bail and a stay on sentence.
''I accept there is an arguable case for Mr Nona on the appeal but … I do not consider that there are special or exceptional circumstances that justify a grant of bail,'' the judge wrote in a judgment published on Friday.
''I have also considered whether together the factors raised, namely the delay, the arguable case on conviction, and the arguable case on sentence amount to special and exceptional circumstances. I cannot find so.''
