Cop’s purpose for fatally tasering an aged great-grandmother is revealed

A NSW police officer recorded in an incident report that he deployed his Taser at a great-grandmother due to an ‘imminent threat’, a court has been told.

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

Constable White is facing a weeks-long trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to manslaughter over the great-grandmother’s death.

The Crown alleges he breached his duty of care to Mrs Nowland and caused her unlawful death by either criminal negligence or a dangerous act, namely an excessive use of force.

There is no dispute that he deployed his weapon and it caused Mrs Nowland’s death, but his lawyers maintain it was a proportionate reaction to the risk she posed by holding a knife.

Constable White’s barrister Troy Edwards SC argued his client had acted to ‘stop the threat’ and ‘prevent a breach of the peace’ when he fired his police-issued weapon at the 95-year-old.

On Wednesday, the court heard Constable White had written an incident report that he had deployed his Taser at Mrs Nowland because he felt there was an ‘imminent threat’. 

The police officer in charge of the investigation into Constable White’s actions, Detective Sergeant Mitchell Bosworth, told the jury that the explanation was an option in a dropdown menu.The entire recorded selection was revealed by Mr Edwards during his opening statement on Monday. 

‘As a violent confrontation was imminent and to prevent injury to police, the Taser was discharged,’ Sergeant Bosworth said Constable White had recorded in his incident report on the day. 

Mr Edwards said the explanation had not changed since the day of the incident.

The court was told the 34-year-old had been made aware of a previous violent incident involving Mrs Nowland when he arrived at the nursing home.

Geriatrician Dr Susan Kurrle told the court people with symptoms of dementia, such as Mrs Nowland, could experience abrupt changes in behaviour. 

 ‘Their behaviour can change and that can be quite difficult to manage,’ she said.

‘Someone pleasant becomes upset or aggressive.’

Dr Kurrle did not treat Mrs Nowland first-hand but applied her decades of experience to analysing the 95-year-old’s medical and nursing home records. 

‘You can see an increased … change in behaviours in Mrs Nowland. And the behaviours are not typical of how she was prior to the dementia occurring,’ she said.

The court was told Mrs Nowland was prescribed an antipsychotic medication to help treat her behaviour. 

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC noted her nursing home records referenced ‘intrusive type behaviours’. 

It comes after the jury on Tuesday watched surveillance footage of Mrs Nowland slowly moving around the nursing home with a walking frame and holding two knives in the hours before she was tased. 

Mr Hatfield read statements from two of her fellow residents, whose rooms she had entered after 3am.

A 90-year-old man said Mrs Nowland had been holding two knives when she entered his room but she ‘didn’t threaten or raise them at me’ before being ushered out of the room.

He said it wasn’t the first time the 95-year-old had entered his room, but she had never been threatening or posed any issues.

The court was told Mrs Nowland then entered the room of an 84-year-old man, where she had a long standoff with aged care staff during which she waved the knives in the air.

The 95-year-old threw one of the knives at a nursing home staff member, but it landed on the floor.

The court was told Mrs Nowland threw one of the knives at a nursing home staff member, but it landed on the floor.

The jury heard the incident prompted a nurse to call triple-0 for assistance with a ‘very aggressive resident’.

An ambulance was dispatched and police were notified because she was armed with a knife.

The jury has been told Mrs Nowland weighed just 47.5kgs when she was autopsied days after her death.