Taser cop Kristian White joins unique club after being spared jail time over manslaughter of 95yo Clare Nowland

Disgraced former police officer Kristian White joins a unique club among killers as he is spared jail time over the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in her Cooma nursing home.

Disgraced NSW police officer and convicted killer Kristian White has become just the fifth person in the past five year to avoid jail time for manslaughter.

Senior Constable White was handed a two-year community correction order in lieu of full-time jail on Friday, four months after a NSW Supreme Court jury found him guilty of killing 95-year-old great grandmother Clare Nowland.

The court heard White said “nah, bugger it” before shooting Mrs Nowland in the chest with a police-issued taser as she grasped a knife in the nurses’ station inside the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma on May 17, 2023.

Mrs Nowland, who suffered symptoms of dementia, used a four-wheel walker and weighed just 47 kgs at the time, fell backwards when the taser’s prongs connected with her chest and hit her head on the floor. She was taken to hospital and died a weekday later from an inoperable brain bleed.

Kristian White, found guilty of manslaughter, arrives at the Supreme Court for sentencing. NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

In sentencing White on Friday, Justice Ian Harrison said his actions that day had been “unlawful and dangerous” and that White had made a “terrible mistake” with tragic consequences.

He described Mrs Nowland as a “frail and confused 95-year-old woman” who posed no real threat to White, his colleague or nursing staff.

White and his wife faced a media scrum as they arrived at the Supreme Court on Friday for his sentencing. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

“In my opinion, tasering Mrs Nowland was unlawful because it was not, and could not have been, reasonably necessary to use such force, and the use of such force was dangerous because it exposed Mrs Nowland to the risk of serious injury,” he said.

However, Justice Harrison also found the highly unique circumstances of the case, together with White’s prior good character, low risk of reoffending and the extra-curial punishment he’d already received by losing his career of 12 years, warranted a penalty of considerable leniency.

He sentenced White to a two-year supervised community correction order, to be served in the community.

Ms Nowland’s family and supporters embraced as they arrive at the Supreme Court for the sentencing. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

As part of the order, White will be required to perform 500 hours of unpaid community service work.

The sentence has seen White join just a handful of other men and women who have avoided jail time for manslaughter in recent years.

Statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show 97 per cent of the 131 people sentenced for manslaughter in the five years to June 2024 have received custodial sentences, some in the double digits range.

The statistics reveal just four people, or 3 per cent of offenders, avoided prison in that same time period: Three were handed supervised community-based sentences – similar to White – while one person received a non-supervised community-based sentence.

White leaves the Supreme Court with his wife after being sentenced to a community corrections order. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

One of those spared jail time was Barbara Eckersley, who was sentenced a two-year community correction order in 2021 after being found guilty of manslaughter for deliberately poisoning her 92-year-old mother, prominent former scientist Dr Mary White, in a nursing home in Bundanoon in 2018.

In that case, the judge found Eckersley was a caring and compassionate daughter who had killed Dr White out of a misguided sense of love and desperation, believing she was suffering after enduring a life-altering stroke.

Clare Nowland was a 95-year-old dementia patient who died after being tasered by White.

Her family was disappointed White was not held in custody after being found guilty last year.

In sparing White jail time, Justice Harrison found his offending fell at the lower end of objective seriousness compared to other manslaughter cases.

“It does not call, in my judgment, for a custodial sentence in order to give effect to the objects of sentencing,” he said,

“Moreover, a custodial sentence would in my view be disproportionate to the objective seriousness of the offence and Mr White’s particular subjective circumstances.”

Outside court, Mrs Nowland’s eldest son, Michael said the family was “emotional” to find out White would not receive any jail time, and that he did “certainly not” accept Justice Harrison’s finding that the former police officer felt genuine remorse for his actions.

“Obviously it was very disappointing for the family, (it was) a slap on the wrist for someone who’s killed our mother,” he said.

“It’s very, very hard to … process that decision.

“Justice and fairness, that’s all we wanted.”

White remained silent as he left the courthouse, refusing to answer questions from reporters as he and his wife stepped into a waiting vehicle.

Originally published as Taser cop Kristian White joins unique club after being spared jail time over manslaughter of 95yo Clare Nowland