State’s top prosecutor steps up for battle in unusual move

NSW’s chief prosecutor Sally Dowling will personally fight against a decision to spare taser cop Kristian White jail time for the manslaughter of great-grandmother Clare Nowland.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC. Picture: APP

The state’s chief prosecutor will personally fight a decision to spare “Taser cop” Kristian White jail time for the manslaughter of 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC will appear in the Court of Criminal Appeal next month to argue why the sentence given to the former NSW Police senior constable was “manifestly inadequate”.

Ms Dowling will seek to overturn a decision by Justice Ian Harrison, who sentenced White, 35, to a two-year community correction order rather than jail time, for fatally tasering Ms Nowland at a Cooma nursing home in July 2023.

The unusual move to take on the matter herself has surprised a few people in the legal fraternity who joked it “won’t look good for her” if the appeal is unsuccessful.

When asked why Ms Dowling had chosen to take on the appeal herself, a spokeswoman for the NSW DPP said simply “the Director regularly appears in the Court of Criminal Appeal and High Court matters”.

A jury found White guilty of manslaughter after he deployed his Taser at Ms Nowland in the early hours of July 17, 2023, after the 47kg woman refused to put down a knife she was holding.

She died a week later in hospital from head injuries suffered after falling backwards from the force of the Taser.

Kristian White leaving the exiting Supreme Court after a bail review following him being found guilty of the manslaughter of the 95-year-old great-grandmother. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

In sentencing White, Justice Harrison said the incident “fell in the lower end of objective seriousness” for manslaughter and said sending him to prison would be a “disproportionate” sentence because he did not pose a risk or danger to the community.

The Office of the DPP immediately lodged an appeal, saying the sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

“After careful consideration of the judgment, the director has determined to file an appeal against the inadequacy of the sentence imposed in this matter,” the ODPP said in a statement.

Ms Dowling is set to argue that “the sentencing judge erred in determining that general deterrence had ‘little or no role’ or ‘only a minor role’ to play in the sentence”.

Clare Nowland was fatally Tasered by Kristian White at an aged care home in Cooma.

The ODPP and Ms Dowling will also allege Justice Harrison “erred in mistaking the facts by proceeding on the basis that it was agreed between the parties that the offender held an honest belief that his conduct was necessary”.

Ms Nowland’s family welcomed the ODPP appeal, saying the sentence was nothing more than “a slap on the wrist”.

“Justice and fairness, that’s all we wanted,” Ms Nowland’s son Michael Nowland said.

The one-day appeal will be heard on June 27.

White was sacked from the police force after he was convicted of manslaughter, but he has lodged an appeal against his dismissal in the Industrial Relations Court of NSW.