A former Nova Scotia resident now living in India and facing sex-related charges in Canada is awaiting word on whether he will be granted bail, pending a hearing to extradite him to Canada.

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 63, formerly of Port Hawkesbury, faces 39 sex-related charges in Nova Scotia for crimes he allegedly committed against young boys in Canada during the 1970s.

A telecom engineer in India since 1994, MacIntosh was picked up earlier this month by authorities in New Delhi at the request of the Canadian Justice Department.

He has been seeking bail pending his extradition hearing. But after a two-day bail hearing that began Monday, the New Delhi judge has reserved decision.

Macintosh faces charges of sexual assault and gross indecency in Canada from allegeged crimes committed in the 1970s, when MacIntosh was a hockey coach and businessman.

At heart of the case are the memories of several Nova Scotia men who, in sworn statements, claimed that MacIntosh plied them with alcohol and coerced them into oral sex. At the time, some of them were only 10 or 11 years old.

Although not named in the court documents, Weldon MacIntosh (no relation to Fenwick MacIntosh) says he was also molested by MacIntosh and the memories bring a lot of pain.

"Because it has all come back like it was yesterday. And now I'm afraid we may not get him back to Canada, for myself and the rest of the victims to face him in court," he told CTV News.

The Port Hawkesbury RCMP detachment began an investigation in 1995, around the time that Macintosh left for India, where it seems he has been able to hide from Canadian justice for the last dozen years.

According to an RCMP affidavit, MacIntosh was informed by telephone in 1996 that he was wanted in Canada but refused to return. Through his lawyer, Fenwick MacIntosh has denied the charges as "utterly false."

As part of his bail application, MacIntosh told the court he is ready to return to Canada and stand trial.

"That is a statement made by him: that he will face the charges in Canada as long as he gets three weeks to settle up his business and commercial interests here," his lawyer in India, Sharat Kapok, says.

His lawyer adds there is no truth to suggestions that Macintosh faces similar accusations in India.

A decision on MacIntosh's bail is pending.

With a report from CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Paul Workman