A police officer has been found guilty of unlawfully killing Clare Nowland after he said ‘bugger it’ and fired his service Taser at her at a rural nursing home.
Mrs Nowland, 95, died of injuries sustained when Senior Constable Kristian White, 34, discharged the weapon at her chest in Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma on May 17 last year.
The jury heard he issued several warnings as she approached him with both hands on her walking frame and holding a knife, before he said ‘bugger it’ and fired the weapon at her.
Mrs Nowland, a great-grandmother fell backwards and struck her head on the floor, sustaining critical injuries.
Constable White faced a trial in the NSW Supreme Court this month after pleading not guilty to manslaughter over the 95-year-old’s death.
After eight days of testimony from witnesses and Constable White himself, the four women and eight men of the jury retired to consider their verdict on Wednesday.
After four days of deliberation, the jury found Constable White guilty of unlawfully killing Mrs Nowland either by way of criminal negligence or a dangerous or criminal act.
The police officer will face sentencing later this year.
Senior Constable Kristian White (pictured has been found guilty of the manslaughter of Clare Nowland, 95, after the jury deliberated for four days
Clare Nowland, a 95-year-old great-grandmother, died a week after she was struck by Constable White’s Taser in Yallambee Lodge nursing home
The jury were persuaded by Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC that Constable White breached the duty of care he owed to the grandmother because his actions ‘involved such a high risk that really serious bodily harm would occur to (her).’
Mr Hatfield argued the discharge of the Taser was a disproportionate response to the situation, given the great-grandmother’s advanced age, frailty, lack of mobility, and symptoms of dementia.
‘This was such an utterly unnecessary and obviously excessive use of force on Mrs Nowland that it warrants punishment for manslaughter,’ he told the jury during his closing statement on Tuesday.
In delivering a guilty verdict, the jury rejected the defence put by Constable White’s barrister Troy Edwards SC that the response was commensurate with the threat posed by Mrs Nowland carrying a knife.
He maintained Constable White’s decision to deploy his Taser was in line with his duty as a police officer to protect others and prevent a breach of the peace.
Constable White and Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank were called to Yallambee Lodge to respond to a triple-0 call for assistance with a ‘very aggressive resident’ who was holding two knives.
The court has heard Mrs Nowland entered the rooms of four residents prior to their arrival just before 5am, and she had thrown a knife at one of the nursing home staff.
‘It’s not the case that the accused could have turned on his heels … It was his job to obtain a resolution,’ Mr Edwards said in his closing statement on Tuesday.
‘He had to disarm her.’
Mr Hatfield dismissed the defence, telling the jury they might consider that Constable White’s words ‘bugger it’ showed he was ‘fed up, impatient, not prepared to wait any longer.’
Constable White will be sentenced at a later date. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short
Constable White’s interaction with Mrs Nowland lasted less than three minutes, one of which was spent holding a Taser at her before pulling the trigger.
The jury heard the great-grandmother found it difficult to follow instructions and became uncharacteristically aggressive before her death, which a geriatrician attributed to her undiagnosed dementia.
She weighed less than 48 kgs and relied on her walking frame to shuffle around the nursing home, the court was told.
Mrs Nowland is survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren, many of whom sat in the public gallery throughout the duration of the trial.
