Sorry about the headline

Photo: Contributed

A Newfoundland newspaper has issued an apology for a headline some readers said blamed the victim of an alleged sexual assault by a police officer.

Steve Bartlett, managing editor of the Telegram in St. John's, said in a letter to readers Sunday that the headline writer was trying to draw attention to the role consent plays in the allegations against Const. Carl Snelgrove of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Snelgrove is accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman he drove home from a bar while on duty in December 2014.

The Crown argues the 10-year RNC veteran took advantage of the vulnerable woman, who was in no position to consent because of her level of intoxication.

However, a headline in Friday's paper for a story about the case that read "Too drunk to remember," drew outrage from some readers, who said it shamed the victim.

Bartlett said that although the paper did not intend to "blame or judge the complainant," many people interpreted it otherwise, and the paper will learn from the anger.

Jenny Wright of the St. John's Status of Women Council wrote in a column in Sunday's paper that the media wrongly focused on the woman's behaviour rather than the alleged actions of the police officer.