Newfoundland cop convicted of sexual assault files to appeal to Canada's high court

A Newfoundland police officer found guilty of raping a woman in her living room while on duty has applied to appeal his conviction before the country's highest court.

The Supreme Court of Canada's website says Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer Carl Douglas Snelgrove filed an application on June 19 to have his appeal heard.

The application comes two months after a panel of judges with the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed his lawyer's arguments that the judge who convicted him had made mistakes.

Snelgrove was convicted on May 15, 2021, of sexually assaulting a woman after he drove her home from downtown St. John's, N.L., in his marked police car.

The woman was forced to recount the assault during three separate trials following an acquittal in 2017 and a successful appeal, and a mistrial in 2020.

The case has gripped St. John's since the first trial in 2017, and lawyer Lynn Moore credits the complainant with opening "a can of worms" that prompted other women to come forward with allegations against at least one other police officer in the city.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2023.