Newfoundland police officer found guilty of sex assault is once again out on bail

A Newfoundland police officer is once again out on bail after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in her living room while he was on duty.

Justice Frances Knickle with the province’s Court of Appeal said today that Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer Carl Douglas Snelgrove could leave jail as he waits for word from the Supreme Court of Canada.

Snelgrove applied last month with the country’s highest court for permission to appeal his 2021 sexual assault conviction.

He was convicted in May 2021 after a trial heard he drove a woman home from downtown St. John’s in a marked police car and raped her in her house.

Snelgrove had been out on bail until the provincial Court of Appeal in April rejected his arguments that the convicting judge had made errors during the trial.

Crown prosecutor Kathleen O’Reilly says Knickle will issue her reasons at a later date for granting him bail.

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