N.L. police officer appealing sexual assault conviction, demanding new trial

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — An officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary convicted in May for sexually assaulting a woman in 2014 while on duty filed for appeal on Monday.

Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove is contesting his conviction on several grounds and demanding a new jury trial, according to paperwork received by Newfoundland and Labrador’s Court of Appeal. He also filed an application for a bail hearing, a court spokeswoman said.

Toronto lawyer Janani Shanmuganathan is representing him in the appeal. She did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Snelgrove, 44, was convicted of sexual assault in provincial Supreme Court after an 11-day trial. It was his third trial for the charge, following an acquittal in 2017 and a mistrial in September 2020.

Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar sentenced him in November to four years in prison and 20 years as a registered sex offender.

The appeal documents claim the sentence is “harsh and unfit” and that Khaladkar’s instructions to jurors on the elements of sexual assault were “deficient.” They say Khaladkar violated Snelgrove’s right to be present “during the whole of this trial,” though the document does not specify when this violation allegedly occurred.

The appeal also alleges Khaladkar failed to properly instruct the jury on the section of the Criminal Code relating to when a defendant is accused of inducing someone to engage in sexual activity through an abuse of trust or authority.

During Snelgrove’s trial in May, the woman testified she came upon Snelgrove in his police cruiser after a night of drinking and dancing at a nearby St. John’s nightclub in 2014. She said he offered her a ride home and sexually assaulted her in her living room.

Snelgrove is incarcerated at a provincial jail in the central Newfoundland town of Bishop’s Falls, according to the appeal documents. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2021.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press