Police officer found guilty of manslaughter after shooting Clare Nowland

A police officer who fatally shot a 95-year-old woman in a nursing home with a Taser because she refused to put down a sharp knife has been convicted of manslaughter in the New South Wales supreme court.

Sen Const Kristian James Samuel White was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday. He will remain on bail until he is sentenced, with Justice Ian Harrison to hear arguments from the prosecution and defence on Friday.

White was called to the Yallambee nursing home in Cooma in the early hours of 17 May 2023, after 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland was found walking around the nursing home carrying a sharp, serrated knife. She had refused instructions to put down the knife over several hours and was presenting a risk to staff and patients, the court heard.

Nowland, who weighed 47.5kg and could only move slowly with the aid of a walker, had not been formally diagnosed with dementia but displayed significant symptoms and was reported by staff as a “dementia patient”.

As Nowland continued to walk slowly towards the police – with her walker between her and the officers – 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.

Sam Tierney, the lawyer who represented the Nowland family in their civil case against the NSW government, shared a statement on their behalf confirming that they were present in court on Wednesday for White’s conviction. A confidential settlement in the civil case was reached on 7 March this year.

“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. The family would like to thank the Judge and jury for carefully considering the matter and the DPP prosecution team for their hard work.”

White’s barrister told the court it was not in dispute that the injuries caused by White shooting Nowland with a Taser ultimately killed her. But he argued that White’s use of the Taser was a reasonable use of force.

In closing arguments, Troy Edwards SC asked the jury to consider that White was of good character with no prior criminal offences when considering its verdict.

Nowland had been asked to put down the knife 21 times, and defied 20 separate instructions to sit or stop walking towards police, he said. The threat Nowland posed caused fear for those who lived that moment, Edwards told the jury.

“It feels pretty different when you’re there, it feels pretty different when Mrs Nowland is the one who locks eyes with you,” he said.

White gave evidence in the trial and told the court he, and others, had given Nowland “every opportunity to drop the knife” she was carrying, over several hours, but she had “made her intent clear: she was going to use that knife on anyone that got near her”.

White told the court that, despite her frailty, Nowland was armed with a sharp knife and posed a threat to police and paramedics, as well as nursing home staff and residents.

“At the police academy we are taught ‘any person with a knife is a danger’.”

He said in evidence: “I’m upset and devastated by [Nowland’s death]. I never intended for her to be injured by it at all.”

But crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC argued White’s use of the Taser on a 95-year-old woman was an “utterly unnecessary and obviously excessive” use of force, taking into consideration Nowland’s age, her infirmity, her use of a walker – which was between her and police – and the fact that the officers could move away from her.

Hatfield said White was “fed up, impatient” with Nowland, pointing to the fact he said “bugger it” before deploying the Taser.

“What the accused said before he fired the Taser was completely inconsistent with it being to prevent an imminent violent confrontation,” he said.

“I ask you, who could she have injured at that moment? No one.”

During the trial, the jury was repeatedly played body-worn camera CCTV footage of the incident. Hatfield argued the vision “speaks for itself”.

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

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