By Sarah McPhee
A police officer remains on full pay after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, whom he Tasered inside a nursing home, as the NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb considers whether to remove him from the force.
Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White, 34, argued he was acting within his sworn duty as a police officer when he discharged his weapon at Nowland as she stood with her walker and held a knife inside Cooma’s Yallambee Lodge in the early hours of May 17, 2023.
Nowland, who had dementia, fell backwards and suffered inoperable head injuries. She died in hospital seven days later.
After an eight-day trial, the 12-person jury deliberated for four days before unanimously finding White guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday afternoon. Members of Nowland’s family wiped tears from their eyes and took deep breaths as they waited for the verdict.
The Crown applied for White to be detained ahead of sentencing, with the application to be determined on Thursday. White’s barrister Troy Edwards, SC, argued a full-time custodial sentence for manslaughter was not inevitable.
Justice Ian Harrison said: “I will not commit a policeman to custody until I understand the conditions under which he will be held, if he is to be held. It goes without saying, in the interim, I propose to continue bail until that issue is determined to my satisfaction.”
Senior Constable Kristian White (centre) leaves the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney with his fiancee (right) after he was found guilty of Clare Nowland’s manslaughter.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, the police commissioner said Nowland’s death was a “terrible tragedy” that a court had found was “as a result of the actions of a police officer” and “should never have happened”.
Webb said White’s employment status was under review and she expects to consider next week whether to remove him from the force. White remains suspended with pay, and Webb said any termination must follow legal process.
She said she intends to speak to Nowland’s family and pass on her condolences.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb held a press conference in the hours after the verdict.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Outside court, one of Nowland’s relatives, Kerrie Paske, said: “I’m very happy about the verdict ... everyone’s happy.”
In a statement via their lawyer Sam Tierney, the family thanked the judge, jury and prosecutors following White’s conviction for the manslaughter “of their beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother Clare”.
“The family will take some time to come to terms with the jury’s confirmation that Clare’s death at the hands of a serving NSW police officer was a criminal and unjustified act,” they said.
White closed his eyes as the verdict was delivered. He did not comment as he left court hand in hand with his fiancee and was bundled into a car.
Clare Nowland died in hospital a week after being Tasered.
The incident
Nurse Rosaline Baker gave evidence she had been alerted by a resident at 3.10am to Nowland standing in the corridor, wearing her pink pyjamas, holding two steak knives and a jug of prunes. She said the 95-year-old then moved in and out of the bedrooms of four residents with the knives.
White, his colleague – then-acting sergeant Jessica Pank – and two paramedics responded to a triple zero call at 4.08am from the nurse reporting a “very aggressive resident” raising “two little knives”.
Before their arrival, another worker said Nowland “stood up and threw a knife” at her, but it landed on the floor.
At 5.07am, Nowland was found sitting with her walker in a room inside the administration building, still holding the other knife.
The encounter that followed lasted two to three minutes and was captured on CCTV and body-worn cameras. Nowland was repeatedly asked to stay seated and drop the knife.
Pank gave evidence that she had tried to kick the wheel of Nowland’s walker as she moved slowly towards the door, but she thought she “was going to be stabbed” as Nowland was “making stabbing motions”.
White told Nowland they were “not playing this game” and “not wielding knives in here”. He raised his Taser and used the warning arc, telling Nowland, “you keep coming, you’re going to get Tased”.
“Stop, just, nah, bugger it,” White said, then Tasered Nowland. “Got her. Go, grab it, grab it, grab it.”
Paramedic Kingsley Newman said Nowland was left with the probes of the Taser lodged in her pyjamas, a burn mark, a five- to six-centimetre haematoma – blood pooled under the skin – and facial droop “indicating a pretty significant brain bleed”.
The trial
The Crown alleged White committed manslaughter either by criminal negligence or by an unlawful and dangerous act, and that his use of force was “utterly unnecessary”.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, told the jury White’s use of “nah, bugger it” before he fired the weapon was “completely inconsistent with it being to prevent an imminent, violent confrontation”, and indicated he was “fed up, impatient, not prepared to wait any longer”.
White’s barrister submitted the use of the Taser was not disproportionate to the risk, and his client had “perceived a legitimate threat”.
Edwards said Nowland “had demonstrated repeatedly over two hours that she was not putting that knife down voluntarily”, efforts to defuse the threat including negotiation had failed, and White “ran out of options”.
White gave evidence he felt his actions were “justified”, that Nowland was “not the frailest I’ve seen”, he did not think she would be seriously injured, and hoped she would fall onto her walker. He said he was “upset and devastated” that she died.
The court heard Nowland, at autopsy, weighed 47.5 kilograms and was 1.54 metres tall.
Nowland was not formally diagnosed with dementia. However, geriatrician Susan Kurrle reviewed her records and believed she had moderate to moderately severe frontotemporal dementia. Nowland was prescribed antipsychotic medication in the weeks before her death following incidents including becoming stuck in a tree and ramming a carer with her walker.
Nowland’s daughter Lesley Lloyd gave evidence about her mother’s love for golf and her charity involvement. The family kept vigil by Nowland’s bedside until her death.
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