A police officer who stunned a 95-year-old woman with a Taser in an Australian nursing home has been found guilty of manslaughter after a jury found the grandmother, who was armed with a knife, did not present an “imminent” threat.
Senior Constable Kristian White was one of the two police officers who were called in May last year to Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in New South Wales, when staff asked for help for a resident who was holding two knives while pushing a person walking around the area. .
Clare Nowland – who had dementia – had refused her carers’ pleas to go back to her room and threw a knife at a staff member who had fallen to the floor before they called the emergency services, according to court documents.
The court heard he was held in the office by police and paramedics and refused to put down the knife when White deployed his Taser.
The jury deliberated for more than three days before returning a verdict of manslaughter against White for breach of duty of care to Nowland and unlawful and dangerous conduct.
White told the court he believed “violent violence was imminent” – a condition for firing a Taser under operating procedures in New South Wales. Laws state that a Taser can only be used against adults in “exceptional circumstances.”
The prosecutor argued that White’s use of the Taser was “totally unnecessary” and an excessive use of force against a frail, elderly woman. After being shocked by the device, Nowland fell on his neck, hitting his head. He died a week later in the hospital.
Nowland’s family released a statement after the verdict, thanking the judge, jury and prosecutors, and saying it would take “time to receive confirmation from the court that Clare’s death at the hands of a NSW police officer was a criminal. wrongful act.”
He will be judged at another time.
How the incident happened
A closed-circuit video that was played at the jail on Monday showed how the incident unfolded in the house’s administrative building around 5 a.m. on May 17, 2023.
In the witness box, White was asked to explain what was on his mind as he and his partner approached Nowland, who was found by security guards sitting in a small office. He was wearing pajamas and had a walking frame nearby for support.
Asked for his first impression of Nowland, White admitted that he was older, but disputed the suggestion that he might be weaker.
“It’s a bit of a subjective question,” White said. When asked again, he said, “not that weak, no.”
While White admitted that Nowland was small in stature, when asked if he was weak, he said he “wouldn’t be able to give an answer.”
On the video, White can be heard repeatedly asking Nowland to put the knife on the table. After he refused and stood up, with one hand holding the walker, White pulled out his Taser.
“Did you see this?” The white man asked him. “This is a Taser. Drop it now,” he said, pointing to the knife. Then after adding some more pressure, he warned her “you’ll be fine.”
Evidence presented to the court included pictures of the knives and flashlight Nowland was holding, and the damage to his pajamas from the police response.
After more warnings, White can be heard saying, “Nah, bugger it” and deploying the Taser.
The court heard White pointed the Taser at Nowland, its light shining into his eyes, for a minute before using it.
When asked what he meant by “Nah, bugger it,” and if it was a sign that he was “tired” and had given up trying to solve the issue, he disagreed.
“I was firing a Taser at a 95-year-old. I thought it was my only option at the time to make sure the event was safe,” he said.
“I fully understand that it would cause him, you know, injury and pain, but I felt that the danger was so high that, you know, it needed to be addressed, and it’s not our job to be silent.” from these types of events,” White said.
“I wasn’t going to risk having him out in the hallway,” she added.
Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, where the incident took place. – Supreme Court of NSW
In summing up, Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield pointed to inconsistencies in White’s testimony as he tried to justify his actions in deploying the Taser.
“The answers were predictable and varied, even within a few questions,” he said, also describing some of White’s answers as “evasive and unconvincing.”
“This was not just a breach of standard of care,” Hatfield said. “This was completely unnecessary and it is clear to use too much power on Mrs. Nowland to the point of punishing for murder,” he said.
White was suspended from the NSW Police Service after the incident.
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