The Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected an Orangeville teen’s bid for immediate release from a six-month sentence imposed by Ontario Court Justice Minoo Khoorshed upon the youth’s conviction as accessory after the fact to murder.

The appeal, brought by Charles Waite on behalf of the Orangeville youth, was to reduce the six months to two. As the sentence was imposed on Oct. 5, the appeal would have had the effect of an immediate release for the teen, who had served 18 months under house arrest since his apprehension in April 2004. He has now served two of the first four months of the sixmonth sentence at a youth facility, and will spend the final two months at a halfway house.

Justices Marc Rosenberg, Stephen Goudge and Janet Simmons dismissed the appeal following oral arguments by the Crown and Mr. Waite on Dec. 2, but they did not give reasons.

“We are all of the view that the appeal must be dismissed,” the judges said in a brief written decision. “The case does, however, raise important issues concerning the interpretation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act..., and we therefore intend to provide reasons for our conclusion.”

The youth was sentenced for his part in pedophile Douglas Moore’s killing and disposal of the bodies of Joe Manchisi, 20, and Robert Grewal, 22, of Mississauga on Nov. 12, 2003. The teen’s identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

At his trial earlier this year the teenager, 14 at the time of the killings, admitted he helped Moore, 36, bury the torsos of the dismembered men in the Montreal area, and their other body parts somewhere near Cornwall.

Moore was never charged with the murders, as he committed suicide while in custody at the Maplehurst Detention Centre on April 2, 2004. Had he lived, it’s expected police would also have charged him with the murder of Mississauga teenager Rene Charlebois, whose body was buried in the Mono dump.

No motive has been given for the slaying of Charlebois, but police have said Moore killed Manchisi and Grewal as he thought they’d broken into his home and stolen about $4,000 worth of cash, marijuana and jewellery in October 2003.

However, the teen says it was he who committed the thefts. He said he regarded Moore as a father figure, and was living in Moore’s house at the time of the thefts and killings. He told the court he helped Moore cover up the murders as he feared for his own life. At the teen’s sentencing, Justice Khoorshed said he had no hesitation in sentencing the teen to jail because of the horror of the crime and the fact that the teen had denied knowledge about the killings for more than five months.