Taser cop Kristian White to learn fate after prosecutors’ push for harsher sentence over Clare Nowland’s manslaughter

The cop who fatally tasered an elderly woman in a nursing home will learn his fate after prosecutors fought for a harsher sentence.

A policeman who avoided jail after fatally tasering a nursing home resident could be handed a harsher sentence as soon as next week.

Senior Constable Kristian White, now 35, was found guilty of manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland after he was called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma in the state’s south on May 17, 2023.

White was sentenced to a two-year community order and 425 hours of community service, but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is appealing the sentence.

The judgment will be given on July 30.

Clare Nowland was fatally tasered by Kristian White at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma in May 2023. Picture: Supplied

Mrs Nowland was described as being a “very aggressive” resident who was holding two knives by a nurse, but was holding only one knife and a penlight when White found her sitting in an office after 5am.

He repeatedly told her to drop the blade during a confrontation that lasted less than three minutes.

When she failed to drop it, White said “bugger it” before tasering her: Ms Nowland died in hospital days later.

White was found guilty of Mrs Nowland’s manslaughter in November last year following a NSW Supreme Court trial.

White is expected to learn whether prosecutors were successful in their bid to impose a harsher sentence on him, with the matter listed for judgment in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA).

Kristian White was found guilty of Ms Nowland’s manslaughter in November last year. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Cop didn’t give Ms Nowland ‘any real chance’

The DPP’s case hinges on four grounds of appeal, including the sentencing judge made several errors by assuming both parties agreed White honestly believed his conduct was necessary, in his assessment of objective seriousness, and in finding that general deterrence had “little or no role” or only a “minor” role to play in White’s sentence.

The sentence is “manifestly inadequate”, the final ground claims.

Crown Prosecutor Sally Dowling SC last month argued White did not give Ms Nowland – clearly vulnerable and disoriented – any “real chance to avoid being tasered”.

Crown prosecutors have lodged an appeal against White’s sentence, which they claim is ‘manifestly inadequate’. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Footage of the fatal incident made it clear Ms Nowland didn’t understand or hear White’s instructions, Ms Dowling told a CCA hearing.

“The respondent did not give her any real chance to avoid being tasered,” Ms Dowling said.

“(There were) many alternate actions that he could have and should have taken.”

Ms Nowland didn’t advance towards White at any point, and needed to hold onto her walker with both hands, Ms Dowling said, which all fell under the Crown’s appeal of objective seriousness.

Sally Dowling SC argued White didn’t give Ms Nowland a chance to avoid being tasered. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

She told the court it took White less than three minutes after first seeing Mrs Nowland to deploy his taser, which caused her to immediately fall and hit her head.

“She never regained consciousness after that fall, and that injury caused her death seven days later,” Ms Dowling said.

White’s lawyer, Troy Edwards SC, rejected the Crown’s claims that Mrs Nowland posed no threat, arguing it was inconsistent with observations of the sentencing judge and witnesses.

He also urged the court not to place emphasis on footage from the incident, but to rely on the accounts of witnesses who he said felt frightened as the incident unfolded.

Originally published as Taser cop Kristian White to learn fate after prosecutors’ push for harsher sentence over Clare Nowland’s manslaughter