RNC officer Doug Snelgrove's sexual assault appeal has been dismissed, sources say
CBC
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 to 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.
Tuesday's news 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.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
A federal Conservative member of Parliament from Manitoba says Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn't have "all the facts in front of him" when he doubled down on threats to pull Crown Royal off shelves.
Around 2,000 litres of coolant leaked into Charlottetown Harbour earlier this week after the MV Confederation was damaged by ice while on its way to St. John’s, N.L., the Canadian Coast Guard says.
City of Calgary officials will provide an update this afternoon at 1 p.m. on the work to repair the Bearspaw south feeder main after it burst on Dec. 30.
Ottawa firefighters acted quickly Thursday morning to extinguish a blaze that began when a family's dog chewed a heated ski glove, causing its battery to ignite.
RCMP in Kinngait say two fishermen reported missing on New Year's Eve have been found dead.
Canadian heavy oil prices are plunging this week following the upheaval in Venezuela over the weekend and the prospect of more Venezuelan oil imports to the United States.
Conservation officials are urging everyone in the London area to avoid waterways this week as water levels continue to rise with melting snow and ice.
The City of Toronto’s 2026 budget will prioritize affordability and will include a lower tax increase than the city has seen in recent years, Mayor Olivia Chow said ahead of the budget’s reveal Thursday morning.
Memorial University political scientist Kelly Blidook pulled no punches when asked what cost the Liberals the 2025 provincial election in Newfoundland and Labrador.
It’s a mystery connected to Manitoulin Island and the north shore of Lake Huron that police thought they had solved five times, but each time they were thwarted.
In a break from recent tradition, Nova Scotia Power’s most senior officials are not participating in the public hearing that will determine whether many of their customers see rates jump this year and next.
When a historic bell was stolen from a Fredericton church after Christmas, a security camera from a neighbouring property caught a photo of a pickup truck.
While kids across Quebec return to school after the holidays, nine-year-old Ellie isn’t among them.