By Olivia Ireland and Michael McGowan
Top NSW Police officers covered up the Tasering of 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland by an officer, deleting crucial details from a public statement about the incident in a Cooma nursing home.
Internal emails obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws reveal the original draft media release sent for approval on the day the Tasering occurred contained detailed information about what happened at Yallambee Lodge in the early hours of May 17.
The revelations forced Premier Chris Minns to defend his embattled police minister, Yasmin Catley, after she told parliament on Wednesday she was unaware of the altered statement.
That admission prompted opposition leader Mark Speakman to suggest Catley should resign as a minister, accusing the police of a “cover-up” and saying she was “not up to the job”.
The original draft media release said Nowland was holding a knife when officers arrived at the nursing home and, when Nowland moved towards the police officers, an officer Tasered her. The grandmother, who had dementia, died a week later in hospital.
That release was sent to NSW Police Executive Director of Public Affairs Elizabeth Deegan on the day of the incident at 10.34am for review. Hours later, more than half the statement had been cut to remove any mention of the Tasering, the fact that Nowland had a knife, where it occurred, and that an officer’s employment was under review.
Deegan emailed the edited statement to NSW Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson at 1.43pm. She wrote “deputy, for your approval/feedback, the revised holding statement below”. He approved the wording at 2.09pm.
In an email at 3.47pm Deegan also highlighted Nowland’s age in one draft and questioned whether it needed to be included. The statement ultimately did include Nowland’s age.
That approved statement was the first release sent by police to media on May 17, 4.41pm, saying the critical incident had been declared. It said a 95-year-old had “sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility in the state’s south today”.
Details of Nowland being in a critical condition after being Tasered by a police officer did not come to light until a story published by The Daily Telegraph on May 18 revealed the facts.
When The Herald approached NSW Police asking if they had any further details on this case, officers said there was no further detail.
On May 19, NSW Police put out a release revealing the facts of the case which were almost verbatim from the original draft release written on the morning of May 17.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb told 2GB radio on Wednesday that she stood by the decision to change the original police statement to omit details about Nowland’s death.
“There’s certainly no cover-up here,” Webb said. “It was important that investigators informed the Nowland family before they heard it on public news radio.”
Webb said she did not direct the changes to the original police statement,“but I was aware of what information should have been provided to the public in our holding statement”.
During that day the investigation was escalated to a “level one” critical incident, she said, requiring homicide detectives to be flown from Sydney to Cooma to speak to the Nowland family and witnesses.
Asked about the altered statement during question time on Wednesday, the police minister said “it was the first I’d heard about the information”.
“The opposition should take it to LECC (Law Enforcement Conduct Commission),” she told parliament. However, in addition to that I think it’s also important that we bear in mind ... the family,” Catley said.
Premier Chris Minns is standing by his police minister Yasmin Catley, who is facing calls to resign.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“The family had not been informed of this ... Let’s let LECC do the work that we have charged them to do.”
Speakman said the admission “really questions the competence of her team and her fitness and ability to remain as police minister”.
“I think the premier needs to give consideration to removing the police minister,” the opposition leader said.
The incident is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the beleaguered police minister, who has been criticised for going “missing in action” after she did not address press questions from the media for several days following Nowland’s Tasering.
Catley was also forced to defend police after it was revealed mentally ill father Wayne Smith had his firearms licence revoked and then reinstated before he shot and killed his 15-year-old son in the north coast town of Yamba on June 1.
But Minns dismissed those criticisms, adding he retained confidence in Catley. He rejected any suggestion of a cover-up, saying the reasons for leaving out the Tasering had been “well-ventilated” and “seem reasonable to me”.
“I think the circumstances relating to the original media release as described by the police commissioner are reasonable given the circumstances,” Minns said.
“And I’m not going to nitpick over the communication strategy of the NSW Police ... effectively the police commissioner is taking responsibility for it because she’s made clear the reasons for it and I’m saying I understand those reasons and I believe they’re acceptable.”
Minns said he was “not aware” of the circumstances around why the family had not been informed.
“I’m aware that it’s a big extended family,” he said.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said the priority was to ensure family members learned details of the incident directly from police rather than third parties.
“The determination of the content and timing of information released to media on 17 May 2023 was made in consideration of Mrs Nowland’s extended family, the gravity of the situation and that the critical investigation team was not on the ground until that evening,” she said.
“The approach taken was consistent with NSW Police policies.”
Nowland, a mother of eight, grandmother of 24, and great-grandmother of 29, who suffered from dementia, died in Cooma base hospital on May 24.
NSW Police Senior Constable Kristian White has been charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault. He is due to appear in court next month and intends to fight the charges.
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