“I thought about my wife. I thought about the fact I was in my uniform...
“I disrespected my wife. I disrespected my uniform and our organization,” Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove, 39, told the jury, recalling when he returned to his patrol car after the incident.
Snelgrove is charged with sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman just after 3 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2014.
The case hinges on the question of consent and whether the woman was capable of giving it. She has testified she was extremely drunk after a night of partying at a downtown bar when she approached Snelgrove’s police car on Water Street and asked for a ride home. She says her memory of the evening is spotty.
When they arrived, she says she couldn’t find her keys, so with his help she climbed in through a window and then let him in the door.
She said she was unsteady and sat down on the love seat and the next thing she knew, he was having anal sex with her.
She said she’d had no intention of having sex with Snelgrove and that she had just wanted to go home to sleep and felt it would be safer to go with a police officer than in a taxi.
Snelgrove testified the young woman she appeared fine when she approached the car.
“She was walking perfectly. Nothing concerned me,” he said.
He said once she was in the backseat, he opened the sliding window barrier and noticed a faint smell of alcohol on her breath, but said she didn’t seem drunk.
He said they talked en route and she gave directions to where she lived.
He said when the woman told him she couldn’t find her keys and that they might be at a friend’s house, he offered to drive her to the friend’s house and asked if there was anywhere else she could stay for the night, but she said it was late and was adamant she’d stay at her place.
“I told her maybe we can find another way into the house,” he said.
He walked to the house and found a window that could slide open and she climbed in.
“She didn’t seem to have any difficulty,” he said.
He said she told him to hang on for one second and then opened the door and invited him in.
He said he went in to the living room, noticed the window was still opened and closed it.
He then told her he was going to go and she started kissing him and he responded.
He said that progressed to sex but he did not force himself on her.
Snelgrove added, “At no point was I concerned about her condition, at no point. Not one bit.”
He said he was there half an hour, from 3:18 a.m. to 3:48 a.m.
When his lawyer Randy Piercey asked him why he hadn’t informed the RNC communications centre of his whereabouts, he said, “It was just somebody who needed a ride home. If I had any concerns she was intoxicated, I would’ve called and processed it ... I didn’t see the need to generate a call.”
He said he’s driven a dozen people home, men and women stuck with no way home, in his 11 years on the force.
When Piercey asked whether the woman consented, he replied, “I believe she was fully consenting.”
During cross-examination, prosecutor Lloyd Strickland pointed out that the woman’s house was outside the zone he was assigned to cover.
“I regularly leave my zone,” Snelgrove said.
Strickland asked why he didn’t tell RNC communications he was taking a female home, noting he was contacted twice while en route to the woman’s apartment.
“You had two opportunities to tell the communication centre you had a young lady in the car and you never told them?” Strickland asked.
“No,” Snelgrove replied.
Strickland asked him why he had disregarded police policy never to take a female home. He said Snelgrove seemed to be trying to hide that fact.
“I just didn’t think it was important at that time,” Snelgrove said.
Why even go inside the woman’s home, Strickland asked.
“I don’t know, really,” Snelgrove said.
Strickland asked if he had known whether the woman was taking birth control.
“I don’t know,” Snelgrove replied.
Strickland: “I put it to you that you didn’t know because she wasn’t conscious.”
“No, that’s not the reason,” Snelgrove said, adding that he is sterile.
Strickland asked Snelgrove if he felt a degree of a responsibility for the woman’s well-being when she was in his patrol car.
“No,” Snelgrove said. “I was pretty much a taxi driver.”
The trial continues Tuesday afternoon.
Twitter: TelyCourt
“I thought about my wife. I thought about the fact I was in my uniform...
“I disrespected my wife. I disrespected my uniform and our organization,” Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove, 39, told the jury, recalling when he returned to his patrol car after the incident.
Snelgrove is charged with sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman just after 3 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2014.
The case hinges on the question of consent and whether the woman was capable of giving it. She has testified she was extremely drunk after a night of partying at a downtown bar when she approached Snelgrove’s police car on Water Street and asked for a ride home. She says her memory of the evening is spotty.
When they arrived, she says she couldn’t find her keys, so with his help she climbed in through a window and then let him in the door.
She said she was unsteady and sat down on the love seat and the next thing she knew, he was having anal sex with her.
She said she’d had no intention of having sex with Snelgrove and that she had just wanted to go home to sleep and felt it would be safer to go with a police officer than in a taxi.
Snelgrove testified the young woman she appeared fine when she approached the car.
“She was walking perfectly. Nothing concerned me,” he said.
He said once she was in the backseat, he opened the sliding window barrier and noticed a faint smell of alcohol on her breath, but said she didn’t seem drunk.
He said they talked en route and she gave directions to where she lived.
He said when the woman told him she couldn’t find her keys and that they might be at a friend’s house, he offered to drive her to the friend’s house and asked if there was anywhere else she could stay for the night, but she said it was late and was adamant she’d stay at her place.
“I told her maybe we can find another way into the house,” he said.
He walked to the house and found a window that could slide open and she climbed in.
“She didn’t seem to have any difficulty,” he said.
He said she told him to hang on for one second and then opened the door and invited him in.
He said he went in to the living room, noticed the window was still opened and closed it.
He then told her he was going to go and she started kissing him and he responded.
He said that progressed to sex but he did not force himself on her.
Snelgrove added, “At no point was I concerned about her condition, at no point. Not one bit.”
He said he was there half an hour, from 3:18 a.m. to 3:48 a.m.
When his lawyer Randy Piercey asked him why he hadn’t informed the RNC communications centre of his whereabouts, he said, “It was just somebody who needed a ride home. If I had any concerns she was intoxicated, I would’ve called and processed it ... I didn’t see the need to generate a call.”
He said he’s driven a dozen people home, men and women stuck with no way home, in his 11 years on the force.
When Piercey asked whether the woman consented, he replied, “I believe she was fully consenting.”
During cross-examination, prosecutor Lloyd Strickland pointed out that the woman’s house was outside the zone he was assigned to cover.
“I regularly leave my zone,” Snelgrove said.
Strickland asked why he didn’t tell RNC communications he was taking a female home, noting he was contacted twice while en route to the woman’s apartment.
“You had two opportunities to tell the communication centre you had a young lady in the car and you never told them?” Strickland asked.
“No,” Snelgrove replied.
Strickland asked him why he had disregarded police policy never to take a female home. He said Snelgrove seemed to be trying to hide that fact.
“I just didn’t think it was important at that time,” Snelgrove said.
Why even go inside the woman’s home, Strickland asked.
“I don’t know, really,” Snelgrove said.
Strickland asked if he had known whether the woman was taking birth control.
“I don’t know,” Snelgrove replied.
Strickland: “I put it to you that you didn’t know because she wasn’t conscious.”
“No, that’s not the reason,” Snelgrove said, adding that he is sterile.
Strickland asked Snelgrove if he felt a degree of a responsibility for the woman’s well-being when she was in his patrol car.
“No,” Snelgrove said. “I was pretty much a taxi driver.”
The trial continues Tuesday afternoon.
Twitter: TelyCourt