Police officer who Tasered 95-year-old care home resident found guilty of manslaughter after
The police officer used his weapon on the great-grandmother after she was found wandering her care home with a small kitchen knife
A police officer who fatally shocked a 95-year-old woman with a Taser in an Australian nursing home has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Sen Const Kristian James Samuel White was found guilty by a jury in the New South Wales supreme court in Sydney on Wednesday after 20 hours of deliberation.
White was one of two police officers called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home home in Cooma, about 300 km southwest of Sydney on the morning of May 17 after 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland was found walking around the nursing home carrying a sharp, serrated knife.
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Ms Nowland - who had not been officially diagnosed with dementia, but had been displaying signs of cognitive decline - had refused her carers’ requests to return to her room and threw a knife at a staff member that fell on the floor before they dialed emergency services, according to court documents.
She had, at one point entered the room of another care home resident while holding the knives, but he told the court he did not feel unsafe.
The court heard Ms Nowland had been cornered in an office by police and paramedics and had refused to put down the knife when White deployed his Taser.
As Ms Nowland, who weighed 47.5kg and could only move slowly with the aid of a walker, continued to walk slowly towards the police White then said “nah, bugger it” and discharged his Taser, striking Nowland in the chest.
The great-grandmother fell backwards and struck her head, sustaining injuries equivalent to blunt force trauma. She died a week later from inoperable bleeding on the brain.
White was initially charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault and was suspended from duty with pay. However, last November he was given an single additional charge of manslaughter following advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Nowland's death triggered public outcry, but White argued his use of force was reasonable and proportionate in a following trial. Prosecutors argued that Mrs Nowland posed no danger to the policeman, and that the "impatient" officer had neglected his duty of care to her.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield told jurors: "Who could she have injured at that moment? No one." The prosecutor alleged that White was "not prepared to wait any longer". The officer argued in a written report that he had fired his Taser as he felt a "violent confrontation was imminent".
The senior constable also said he did not believe she would be "significantly injured" and that her death had left him "devastated", with the defence citing evidence from paramedics and White's service partner, who said they felt threatened by the elderly nan. Jurors ultimately returned a guilty verdict for manslaughter, with Ms Nowland's family thanking those involved in the case for their work.
They said in a statement issued by their family lawyer: "The family will take some time to come to terms with the jury’s confirmation that Clare’s death at the hands of a serving NSW police officer was a criminal and unjustified act."
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said White's employment was still under legal review. She added that the force's Taser policies and training had also been reviewed, but were found to be appropriate.
"The death of Clare Nowland is a terrible tragedy... this should never have happened," she said. White, who remains on bail, will be sentenced at a later date.
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