Police officer was ‘fed up’ before tasering 95-year-old, prosecution claims

A police officer was “fed up, impatient, and not prepared to wait any longer” when he fatally tasered a 95-year-old in a nursing home, a court has been told.

A police officer was “fed up, impatient (and) not prepared to wait any longer” when he said “bugger it” and fired his service Taser at a 95-year-old woman, a court has been told.

Clare Nowland died of injuries sustained when Senior Constable Kristian White discharged his Taser at her chest in Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma on May 17 last year.

The police officer is facing trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to manslaughter over the great-grandmother’s death in rural NSW.

The 34-year-old does not dispute that he discharged the weapon that caused Mrs Nowland’s death, but maintains it was a proportionate reaction to the risk she posed by holding a knife.

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC alleged Constable White had acted either negligently or employed a criminal or dangerous use of force when he killed the 95-year-old. 

Kristian James Samuel White has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

In his closing statement, he argued Constable White breached the duty of care he owed to the 95-year-old because his actions “involved such a high risk that really serious bodily harm would occur to Mrs Nowland”.

Mr Hatfield said the officer’s use of force amounted to manslaughter because it was “not reasonably necessary” to do his job and “it was dangerous” because a reasonable person in his position would have realised that it exposed Mrs Nowland to a risk of serious injury.”

“You might think that footage of what happened outside the nurse’s room speaks for itself,” the Crown prosecutor told the jurors.

Footage shown to the jury shows Mrs Nowland slowly inching towards the doorway of the room while relying on her walking frame and carrying a knife.

Constable White can be heard warning her repeatedly to stop and put down the knife, but the elderly dementia patient continued and held up the knife when approached.

“Nah, bugger it,” the police officer said before deploying his Taser at her chest. 

“Got her”.

Clare Nowland died a week after she was struck by a Taser on May 17.

The Crown prosecutor said the jury might consider his use of “bugger it” was “completely inconsistent with it being to prevent an imminent violent confrontation.”

“You might understand that to mean he was fed up, impatient, not prepared to wait any longer,” he said.

The jury has heard the police officer’s interaction with Mrs Nowland lasted three minutes at most.

In an incident report written after the fatal incident, the police officer recorded that he deployed his Taser because he felt a “violent confrontation was imminent”. 

“You might think no reasonable person in the position of the accused at that time would have considered that a violent confrontation with Mrs Nowland was imminent,” Mr Hatfield said. 

He suggested the idea that Mrs Nowland could move more than two metres and stab anyone was “just not a realistic possibility at all, having regard for what you can see of her.”

The jury has heard the great-grandmother found it difficult to follow instructions and became uncharacteristically aggressive before her death, which a geriatrician attributed to her undiagnosed dementia.

She weighed less than 48 kgs and relied on a four-wheeled walking frame to shuffle around the nursing home, the court has been told.

Two knives and a penlight were seized at Yallambee Lodge on May 17. Picture: Supplied

There were holes in the pyjamas worn by Clare Nowland when she was fatally tasered. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hatfield said there was “an obvious risk” of her falling if struck by a Taser and her “age and frailty” translated into an “obvious risk of really serious injury” from falling onto the floor.

“This was such an utterly unnecessary and obviously excessive use of force on Mrs Nowland that it warrants punishment for manslaughter,” he told the jury.

However, Constable White’s barrister Troy Edwards SC argued his client’s deployment of his Taser was in accordance with his duty as a police officer to protect others.

“People who were there told you again and again that they were frightened that Mrs Nowland would use the knife,” he told the jury during his closing statement.

He urged the jurors to consider the evidence of Constable White’s colleague, Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank, that it “feels pretty different when you’re there” and someone is raising a knife at you.

Constable White and Acting Sergeant Pank were called to Yallambee Lodge to respond to a triple-0 call for assistance with a “very aggressive resident” who was holding two knives.

The court has heard Mrs Nowland entered the rooms of four residents prior to their arrival just before 5am, and she had thrown a knife at one of the nursing home staff.

“It’s not the case that the accused could have turned on his heels … It was his job to obtain a resolution,” Mr Edwards said.

“He had to disarm her.”

In the footage, Constable White can be heard telling Mrs Nowland to stay seated six times and to drop the knife ten times.

Mrs Nowland’s extended family have attended every day of the trial. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Mr Edwards said he tried negotiating and grabbing the knife from her to “defuse the situation” but his “options had run out”.

“At the time Constable White decided to remove the Taser from his holster … many of the strategies that had been tried … they failed,” he stated.

“You would conclude that Mrs Nowland was determined, absolutely determined to keep possession of the knife. And that determination was evident to Kristian White.”

Mr Edwards asked the jury to consider his client’s “good character” and lack of criminal record when deciding whether he believed the use of force was necessary.

The trial will continue on Wednesday with a summation from Justice Ian Harrison.

Originally published as Police officer was ‘fed up’ before tasering 95-year-old, prosecution claims