Jury finds Newfoundland and Labrador officer Doug Snelgrove guilty of sexual assault

A jury convicted a Newfoundland and Labrador police officer on Saturday of sexually assaulting a young woman while he was on duty, bringing a long-awaited end to a gruelling case that was tried in court three times.

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 21-year-old woman in her living room in 2014 after driving her home from a St. John’s nightclub in his police car.

This was his third trial for the charge, following a successful appeal of an acquittal in 2017 and a subsequent mistrial last year.

The victim told the court she’d left the club because she felt too drunk to be out. Snelgrove was sitting in his car nearby and rolled down his window to offer her a ride, she testified on May 6, recounting the night’s details before a jury for the third time.

She said she accepted the ride from Snelgrove because she figured “a police officer should be safer than a taxi driver.”

She broke down several times on the stand, saying at one point, “I just want this over.”

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The trial began on May 5 and the jury began deliberations on Thursday.

They sent a note to Provincial Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar on Friday evening saying they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Khaladkar urged them to keep deliberating and sent them away again. They delivered their guilty verdict at about 4:00 p.m. Saturday.