RNC officer Doug Snelgrove's sexual assault appeal has been dismissed, sources say

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. Doug Snelgrove is going to prison, more than eight years after the on-duty St. John's police officer raped a young woman in her own living room.

Multiple sources have confirmed to CBC News that the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador has dismissed Snelgrove's request to overturn or stay his sex assault conviction, handed down in 2021.

Snelgrove has been out on bail for the last 16 months as he waited for the appeal decision.

The St. John's police officer sexually assaulted a woman he had driven home from a downtown bar in 2014. According to the survivor's testimony, Snelgrove offered her a ride in his patrol car. When they arrived at her home, he helped her inside her living room, where the sexual contact happened.

The survivor testified she was intoxicated and can't remember consenting to any sexual acts between them, and said she only recalls regaining consciousness in the middle of a sex act.

She reported the assault a few weeks later to then RNC Const. Kelsey Muise, who brought the report to her superiors, who launched a criminal investigation.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said Snelgrove's assault, and the investigations and trials that followed, had left her considering suicide.

Sentenced to four years behind bars

Tuesday's decision comes six years after Snelgrove first went to trial in 2017. He was acquitted at the time, but prosecutors appealed that decision, arguing the Supreme Court justice failed to consider Snelgrove's position of trust as a police officer when instructing the jury to make their decision.

The second trial in 2020 ended prematurely, however, which prompted a third trial a year later.

He was convicted at that trial but appealed the decision, arguing the provincial Supreme Court violated the Criminal Code during trial proceedings. Snelgrove's lawyers pointed to several instances in which Snelgrove wasn't present for conferences between lawyers and the judge, and argued that amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

Snelgrove was sentenced to four years in prison. He remains a constable employed by the RNC, which is under public and legal scrutiny after the Snelgrove trials prompted several more complainants to accuse other police officers of sexually assaulting them.

CBC News has asked the RNC for comment.

Sources say the official appeal decision will likely be released by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

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