Labor Minister faces questions over tasering of 95-year-old
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley is under mounting pressure to review video footage of the tasering of a 95-year-old dementia patient by a senior constable.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley is under mounting pressure to review video footage of the tasering of a 95-year-old dementia patient by a senior constable, as the opposition accuses her of being “missing in action”.
The mounting pressure on Ms Catley came after NSW Police announced the 33-year-old officer had been suspended from duty with pay as investigations into the incident continue.
Clare Nowland, weighing just 43kg, sustained critical head injuries after the senior constable used a taser on her as she carried a serrated knife while slowly approaching officers at her Yallambee Lodge aged-care facility in the early hours of May 17.
With questions also swirling about NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb’s ongoing decision not to review police body-cam footage, Ms Catley addressed questions in parliament, declining to say whether she would watch the footage as she attacked the opposition for “politicising” the tragedy.
“What we as a parliament need to ensure is that this investigation, this critical incident investigation, plays its course,” she told question time.
“It’s important that the inquiry run its proper course without any prejudice or interference.”
Ms Catley said the opposition’s politicisation of the investigation risked endangering the lives of aged-care workers at Yallambee Lodge, revealing one employee had already received death threats.
But NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said he could not understand the ongoing refusal by either Ms Catley or Ms Webb to review the footage of the critical incident, saying it was imperative to ensuring “accountability and transparency”.
“But the Police Minister has been missing in action so far as instilling public confidence in this process is concerned,” he said.
“We haven’t heard from the Police Minister that she has said or done anything to make sure that the process is transparent, that it is robust, and that the report will be released to the public in a timely manner.”
Mr Speakman said the decision not to review the video was “quite extraordinary”.
While describing the incident as “terrible”, Commissioner Webb said she understood the criticism of her not wanting to watch the body camera footage of the incident, but insisted NSW Police needed to maintain integrity in the investigation.
“I mean, I can’t imagine … I’ve never seen anything like it in my career … I can’t imagine what that family is going through,” she told Nine’s Today program.
“Everyone wants answers. I want answers as well. And we just have to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
“As a decision-maker, I may watch this video when all the evidence comes before me.
“But (my) watching that video now won’t make the investigation go faster.”
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