Video of 95yo’s Clare Nowlands’ Tasering played in Supreme Court

The NSW Supreme Court has been told that the police officer who discharged his Taser at a great-grandmother while responding to an incident at a NSW aged care facility allegedly said he “needed to” use his weapon, even though he wasn’t “meant to tase elderly people”.

Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White was supported by his wife as he walked into the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday morning.

The 34-year-old has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and will fight the allegation during a trial that is scheduled to run for three weeks.

He has been accused in relation to the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland after he was called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of May 17 last year.

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC told jurors Constable White had been called to assist carers with a resident who was wielding a knife and described as “aggressive”.

The court was told Mrs Nowland could not be located when police arrived at the lodge around 5am, but she was later found sitting in a room with her four-wheeled walking frame and a knife.

Mr Hatfield said she was asked to put down the knife a number of times by Constable White, who then said “bugger it” and discharged his Taser at her chest.

Mrs Nowland, who was experiencing symptoms of dementia, fell backwards and sustained “inoperable” injuries. She died in hospital less than a week later.

“The Crown alleges [Constable White’s] conduct amounted to manslaughter on the basis of either criminal negligence or manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act,” Mr Hatfield said.

He claimed the 34-year-old breached his duty of care to Mrs Nowland and his actions fell “far short” of a reasonable standard of care expected of a police officer. 

The Crown will explore whether the police officer’s force exceeded that which was reasonably necessary, given Mrs Nowland’s age, frailty and lack of mobility.

However, Constable White’s lawyer Troy Edwards SC argued it was “the sworn duty of a police officer to stop the threat and counteract the risk” Mrs Nowland posed to herself and others while holding the knife.

He said police officers have a duty “to prevent a breach of the peace” which was “exactly what was occurring” in the aged care home on the morning of May 17.

Mr Hatfield said he expected evidence would be given about a conversation Constable White had with a colleague after the incident.

“I’ve had a look and supposedly we aren’t meant to tase elderly people, but in this circumstance I needed to,” he is alleged to have said.

Mr Edwards said his client’s explanation for his actions had not changed since he deployed his Taser.

“As a violent confrontation was imminent and to prevent injury to police, the Taser was discharged,” he said Constable White wrote in an incident report on the day.

Mr Edwards said the police officer had been made aware of Mrs Nowland’s “increasing aggression” and “declining cognitive function” when he responded to the call.

The court was told the great-grandmother had become violent with nursing home staff and hospital workers prior to May 2023, including punching and attempting to bite those assisting her.

In the hours before Constable White arrived at the home with his colleague, Mrs Nowland had been seen carrying two knives. Statements from two fellow residents were read to the court, detailing how Mrs Nowland entered their rooms with the knife in the hours leading up to the altercation.

A 90-year-old man said she had been holding two knives when she entered his room but she “didn’t threaten or raise them at me” before being ushered out of the room.

Mrs Nowland then went into the room of an 84-year-old man and had an hours-long standoff with carers during which she waved the knives in the air.

She threw one of the knives at a staff member, but it landed on the floor, the court heard.

“A reasonable person in Constable White’s position would not consider the use of force was disproportionate to the risk,” Mr Edwards said. 

“Constable White was acting in the execution of his duty when he discharged his Taser.”

The nearly three minute confrontation was captured on body-worn cameras and surveillance footage at the nursing home.

It is reported that family members broke down in tears and gasps could be heard across the courtroom as the confronting footage was shown.

Mrs Nowland’s daughter Lesley Lloyd received a call about her mother in the night and offered to assist, but she didn’t hear back from the staff until they called to inform her about her mother’s fall.

She told the court she had rushed to the hospital and was told around 6am that her mother would not survive the brain bleed.

Mrs Nowland is survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.

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