John Paul Garay, who is aged in his 60s, stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court in June after pleading not guilty to 18 child sex charges.

In late August, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson acquitted him on 10 counts but found him guilty of the rest.

Among the charges on which Garay was convicted were two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, who was aged between 10 and 16 at the relevant times.

The historical offences, which all involved the same boy, occurred at Garay's home in Wanniassa in the 1980s.

The vulnerable victim used to stay there during school holidays, having been desperate for a male role model at that point of his life.

Following the return of Justice Loukas-Karlsson's verdicts, Garay's lawyers filed an appeal against his convictions.

They also sought a stay of his sentence proceedings, listed to commence this Friday, pending the outcome of the challenge.

Making the stay application in the ACT Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Legal Aid lawyer Sam McLaughlin argued the appeal had overwhelming prospects of success.

Garay's appeal lists numerous grounds, including that three of the charges should have been disposed of on a "no case to answer" basis.

Among other things, it also complains that Justice Loukas-Karlsson did not adequately explain the guilty verdicts.

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While Justice Loukas-Karlsson's judgment was 838 paragraphs long, Mr McLaughlin submitted that it was "devoid of the demonstration of reasoning and analysis required" by law.

He said Garay had "a significant chance of being acquitted" of all charges, but would probably spend months in custody before the appeal could be heard if the sentencing went ahead as planned.

Crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson suggested the appeal would probably be heard earlier than May 2022, when Mr McLaughlin believed it was most likely to go ahead.

He accepted that "the nub" of Justice Loukas-Karlsson's reasons were contained in just four paragraphs of the trial judgment, but submitted that what led up to it was "extensive, expansive and essentially a foundation to the ultimate conclusions".

Justice Michael Elkaim, who heard the stay application, dismissed it.

He said he was not satisfied there were exceptional circumstances that would justify a stay, nor would the appeal be "rendered nugatory" if he did not grant the application.

Justice Elkaim added that there would be nothing to stop Garay applying for his bail to continue, pending the outcome of the appeal, once Justice Loukas-Karlsson had sentenced him.

He noted this would probably not happen for a while yet, with the sentence proceedings in the Supreme Court likely to stretch beyond Friday.

Garay's victim is also suing him in a civil case in that court.

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