On-duty cop abused trust to gain consent, argues Crown

The St. John's police officer being tried this week on a sex assault charge may have induced consent through an abuse of trust, prosecution argued Wednesday, calling him a "knight in shining armour" who "set the plate" for an opportunity to have sex with a vulnerable young woman while in uniform and on duty.

Itmarked the third time both Const. Doug Snelgrove andthe complainantlistened toattorneys pick apart their testimony.

The complainant, a young woman flanked by supporters in the gallery of a Supreme Court courtroom in St. John's, alleges Snelgrovehad sex with her while she was too drunk to remember consenting.

But defence counsel Randy Pierceyargued her behaviour that night shows otherwise.

The woman testified last week that she can't recall long stretches of time thatnight in 2014, when she first encountered the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer.

Snelgrove offered her a ride home as she emerged from a nightclub, andhelped her climb through a window into her locked apartment, according to the woman. He then wentinside, apparentlyto make sure she was safe, she told the court.

She then recalledthat they kissed, and she sat on her loveseat because she felt too drunk to stand up. The next thing she knew, she said, she"came to" and he was having sex with her.

But Piercey argued the woman's actions throughout the night suggest she wasn't sufficiently drunk for her testimony to stand, contending that the woman was clear-headed enough to make multiple decisions, including when to leave the nightclub to head home andhow to give Snelgrove directions to her apartment.

She also testified she was able to recall that her roommate was away that night a piece of evidence Pierceysays she altered between trials, suggesting that discreditedher reliability as a witness. "She remembers what she wants to remember," he said.

When you add up the night's choices, "it shows that you're dealing with a competent, aware ... individual," he added.

"If you'resmart enough that you're aware of the world, aware of your own circumstance, then Iwould suggest you're aware enough ... to consent to sexual activity."

He then pointed to evidence from a toxicologist that said someone might seem sober enough to consent but still experience blackouts. That could also let Snelgrove off the hook, he argued, even though the woman might not recall consenting.

Definition of inducement at play

The complainant's level of sobriety, however, wasn'tthe only issue under scrutiny Wednesday.

The jury must also consider whetherSnelgrove abused his position of power as an on-duty police officer in order to obtain her consent.

"There's not one shred of evidence that he did anything to induce her to have sexual activity," Piercey said. In fact, Piercey said, he offered to drive her to a friend's house.

"He did his best to get a safe place for her."

Snelgrove told the court he did not make any record of their encounter in his notes from that night because he did not consider the ride a "police duty."He was on the clock and in uniform at the time.

Both Snelgrove and his legal team have offered a picture of the defendant as a helpful police officer, who at every turn ensured the complainant arrived at her apartment safely. Snelgrove, who testified the complainant initiated sex and agreed to all sexual acts between them, said Monday he agreed to give the woman a ride home because he assumed she had no other way of getting there.

But Crown counsel Lloyd Strickland said that idea in itself Snelgrove'sidentity asa presumably trustworthy police officer may be sufficient to put him behind bars.

When the officer took the woman into his patrol car,"he's assuming responsibility to a degree for her well-being," Strickland argued.

Strickland said Snelgrove didn't have to persuade or coerce the woman in order to meet the legal criteria for inducement through his position of trust.

It's enough, he suggested, that Snelgrovecarried out the role ofa benevolent cop, someone the complainant herself said she felt safer with than a cab driver.

"In some ways he's being her knight in shining armour," Strickland said, adding that Snelgrove didn't need to devise a "sinister plan" in order to commit the crime.

Could the guise of a police officer's duty of care, Strickland asked rhetorically, have been a ruse to get inside her apartment?

Snelgrove may have used the woman's feelings of trust to obtain consent, simply "setting the plate in case the opportunity arises," Strickland argued.

"When she entered the house, Isuggest that's when the opportunity arose."

Justice Vikas Khaladkaris scheduled to instruct the jury on consent law Thursday morning, after which the panel will begin deliberations.

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