Snelgrove’s appeal dimissed by country’s top court
It’s the end of the legal line for Doug Snelgrove, the RNC officer convicted of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty almost 10 years ago.
In a decision made public this morning, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Snelgrove’s appeal, meaning the 46-year-old will have to return to prison.
After serving less than six months of his four-year prison term, Snelgrove was released again in August when he was granted bail, pending the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision.
Snelgrove was in uniform and on duty in November 2014 when he drove a woman home from downtown St. John’s and sexually assaulted her. The woman was drunk and Snelgrove helped her get into her apartment.
The case brought to light issues of consent and abuse of power.
It sparked outrage from the community, with women’s groups and other individuals protesting outside court and outside the RNC.
Since then, it’s been a near decade-long of legal processes, with three trials.
Snelgrove was initially acquitted by a jury following first trial in 2017. The Crown appealed on the grounds that the judge didn’t consider Snelgrove’s position of trust and the acquittal was overturned.
The second trial in 2020 ended in a mistrial, leading to a third trial in 2021. That ended in a conviction and Snelgrove was sentenced to a four-year prison term.
After the defence appealed that decision, he was granted bail in December 2021 as he awaited an appeal in this province. That appeal was denied in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel at the provincial court of appeal.
However, in June 2023, Snelgrove and his lawyers filed an application to the Supreme Court of Canada requesting permission for leave to appeal. This time, on the grounds that Snelgrove should have been present in all discussions about his case.
The statistics for an appeal at the higher court weren’t in Snelgrove’s favour. According to the Supreme Court of Canada’s website, of the approximately 600 applications for leave of appeal it receives annually, only 80 are approved.