Policeman accused of manslaughter after tasering woman, 95, in care home tells court why he used it

The policeman accused of manslaughter after tasering a woman in a care home has told the court why he did it.

In May 2023, Senior Constable Kristian White was called while off-duty and asked to attend the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia,

Ambulance officers were in need of assistance in dealing with an ‘aggressive’ resident who was carrying a knife.

Staff had sought help after Clare Nowland had picked up two knives from the nursing room kitchen in the middle of the night. It is said she was risking the safety of others and at one point threw one at a staff member.

She died a week later (7News)

White was to disarm the great-grandma, who had symptoms of dementia, and argued in court he tried to give her every opportunity to drop the steak knife.

However, in CCTV footage and a bodycam video of the incident, the court heard that he eventually said ‘bugger it’ and discharged the taser.

Nowland then fell and fractured her skull. The 95-year-old died a week later in hospital after suffering inoperable bleeding in the brain.

From the witness box, the police officer said his intention was just to incapacitate Nowland and disarm her of the knife.

“I’m upset and devastated by it,” White said. “I never intended for her to be injured by it at all.”

He explained he ‘didn’t want to have to tase’ the woman but he ‘was weighing up the safety of everyone present’.

While under questioning from his defence barrister, Troy Edwards SC, White added: “Our job is to maintain the peace. Letting her wander the corridors armed with a knife would definitely in my mind be a breach of that peace.”

White said it was for the safety of everyone (Supreme Court NSW)

The officer said he believed the tasering was justified in meeting the exceptional criteria test required by police for the use of a taser on an elderly person.

Although, he admitted he didn’t know about this test until after it had took place. That came up when his partner, then acting Sergeant Jessica Pank, showed him the police procedures.

When the case began at the NSW Supreme Court earlier this month, Edwards said it’s not in dispute that the injuries from the taser is ultimately what killed her.

However, he added that it’s argued the use of it in the first place was a reasonable use of force.

Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC said the crown would argue White was guilty of manslaughter by way of criminal negligence or by way of an unlawful and dangerous act.

“He owed a duty of care to Mrs Nowland, including a duty not to cause her serious harm,” he said.