A police officer found guilty of the manslaughter of a 95-year-old woman with a taser inside a nursing home has been granted bail while he awaits sentencing.
Senior Constable Kristian White, 34, faced an eight-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court in November after he pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing Clare Nowland, 95.
He had been called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma before 5am on May 17, 2023 to assist with a “very aggressive” resident who was holding two knives.
During his deadly three-minute interaction with Mrs Nowland, White raised his Taser and told her to stay seated and put down the knife she held while leaning on her walking frame.
The jury was told the great-grandmother had difficulty following directions and had become uncharacteristically aggressive before her death, which a doctor attributed to undiagnosed dementia.
White held the weapon pointed at Mrs Nowland for a minute before he said: “Nah, just bugger it” and pulled the trigger, discharging the Taser probes at her chest.
Mrs Nowland, who weighed less than 48 kgs, fell backwards and struck her head on the floor. She succumbed to her injuries a week later.
After four days of deliberation, the jury unanimously found White guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC made an immediate application to have White taken into custody ahead of sentencing, which was heard on Thursday.
“Clearly the jury has found on any view that the force was not reasonably necessary and, having regard to the nature of the offence, that a full time custodial sentence is realistically inevitable,” he said.
Yet White’s barrister Troy Edwards SC argued the judge could find his client’s actions were on the “lowest end” of the spectrum of severity for manslaughter offences.
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