TORONTO Police Detective Constable Mandip Sandhu, who was sentenced to 15 months in jail and two years’ probation for sexually assaulting a 44-year-old masseuse in June 2013, started serving his sentence on Wednesday after his appeal of his conviction and sentence was dismissed.

Sandhu had been convicted in February 2013 of forcing the masseuse to perform oral sex on him while he was supposedly inspecting a North York spa. Provincial Court Justice John Moore had called the crime a “breach of trust” committed by an individual “who [pledged] to uphold the law.”

This week, Justice Brian O’Marra said: “The appellant was convicted of a crime involving sexual violence and an egregious abuse of public trust and authority. The length and manner of serving this custodial sentence do not reflect an error in principle, nor is the sentence demonstrably unfit.”

Last year, the complainant filed a lawsuit against Sandhu and the Toronto Police Services Board for $1.3 million, The Toronto Star newspaper reported.