Former N.L. town councillor Barry Oake was convicted of sexually assaulting against teenage boys. (CBC)

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal has overturned a decision to send a central Newfoundland man convicted of sexually assaulting teenaged boys to jail.

Former Grand Falls-Windsor town councillor Barry Oake was sentenced Dec. 2008.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault involving adolescent males 16-18 years of age.

As part of a plea bargain, crown and defense lawyers agree that Oake should be sentenced to a house arrest.

But provincial court judge Bruce Short ignored that deal and imposed a tougher sentence because he said that's what the public expected for a sexual assault by someone in a position of trust.

He rejected the joint submission and imposed a 22-month prison sentence plus three years probation

Oake appealed that in February and Wednesday the court of appeal overturned it.

"The judge described a sinister figure, who showed a similar method of execution and a significant forethought to commit well planned offences," said the Appeal Court's written decision. "But no such person exists in the agreed statement of facts. What is there is a conniving, opportunistic figure, morally bankrupt to be sure, but not the dark, menacing figure conjured up by the judge."

The ruling says judges have a duty to hand down sentences that sometimes "meet with the public's disfavour."

It says "a judge must be content to be pilloried by the public."

The appeal court has handed Oake 14 months house arrest.

Oake's lawyer believes the Court of Appeal made the right decision.

"A conditional sentence with the proper guidance, reviewed by conditional sentence officers, [and] proper counselling has a far better chance of providing a long-term solution to society," said lawyer Bob Simmonds.