A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a child rapist after he failed to turn up for the sentencing he repeatedly tried to stave off.
John Paul Garay, aged in his early 60s, was due to appear in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon to be sentenced for eight child sex offences he committed in Wanniassa in the 1980s.
He denied any wrongdoing but was previously found guilty of raping a boy twice and committing six indecent acts on the same victim, who used to stay with him during school holidays.
Garay was only granted bail until his sentencing so he could find alternative accommodation for his elderly mother, for whom he has been a full-time carer.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told him in early March that it was "imperative" his mother was housed somewhere by Thursday because she would be ordering his incarceration that day.
Garay subsequently made a desperate, last-ditch bid to prevent being jailed by applying to the ACT Court of Appeal on Wednesday for a stay of proceedings.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum considered his application overnight and dismissed it at 12.30pm on Thursday, saying Garay would be required to front the Supreme Court for his sentencing at 2.45pm.
Despite having been present to hear those comments, Garay was nowhere to be found when the time for sentencing rolled around.
Defence barrister Margaret Jones SC conceded she did not know where Garay had gone, and suggested Justice Loukas-Karlsson wait for 15 minutes to see if he turned up.
While Justice Loukas-Karlsson acknowledged Ms Jones had been placed in "a somewhat invidious position", she did not want to wait.
The Supreme Court judge instead issued a warrant for Garay's arrest at the request of prosecutor Skye Jerome.
Garay's attempt to stay his sentencing this week was his second bid to stave off punishment for his historical child sex crimes.
After being found guilty of the eight offences at the end of a lengthy trial last year, the rapist filed an appeal against his convictions.
He then sought a stay of his sentencing by arguing the appeal had overwhelming prospects of success.
His lawyers said he would spend several months behind bars waiting for the appeal to be heard unless his case was put on hold.
Their arguments failed to persuade two judges, with Justice Michael Elkaim denying a stay in October before Chief Justice McCallum followed suit on Thursday.
