Senior constable who Tasered 95-year-old granny Clare Nowland in NSW is charged with manslaughter

• Senior constable who tasered Clare Nowland charged with manslaughter
• Kristian White, 33, has been suspended without pay since incident in May 
• READ MORE: Alleged exchange between police and Clare Nowland revealed

The senior constable who Tasered 95-year-old great grandmother Clare Nowland has been charged with manslaughter.

Mrs Nowland, a dementia sufferer who weighs just 43kg, had been holding a steak knife when she ‘slowly’ approached a police officer at the Yallambee Lodge in southern NSW in May of this year.

Senior Constable Kristian White, 33, then blasted a taser on Mrs Nowland, prompting her to collapse to the ground, knock her head and suffer a bleed to the brain. 

Seven days after the incident, her death was confirmed, with relatives saying she died surrounded by her family in Cooma Hospital. 

The charge of manslaughter is in addition to charges laid in May that were recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

In a statement NSW Police said: ‘Following advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad have today laid an additional charge of Manslaughter against a 33-year-old Senior Constable attached to the Monaro Police District.

‘This legal process was served on the officer’s legal representative this morning.  

‘The officer who remains suspended from duty with pay will next appear at the Cooma Local Court on Wednesday 6 December 2023 for Mention.’

Clare Nowland (pictured, after she participated in a skydive in 2008) had been holding a steak knife when she ‘slowly’ approached the police officer before she was Tasered on May 17

Senior constable Kristian White White (pictured with his partner at Cooma Local Court)

Mrs Nowland was farewelled by loved ones at St Patricks Church in Cooma in June (pictured)

It comes after body-worn camera footage revealed the alleged exchange between Constable White and Mrs Nowland on the night she was Tasered.  

Her family has launched civil proceedings against the state government in the wake of her death with a statement of claim launched in court. 

The executor of Mrs Nowland’s estate alleged NSW Police acted unreasonably and had attempted to downplay what had happened in front of Yallambee Lodge staff.

Neither Constable White or his fellow officer, Sergeant Rachel Pank, are listed as defendants in the court documents – which contained a detailed account of what allegedly happened on May 17. 

READ MORE: Top cop refuses to answer the one question Australia wants answered after police officer tasered 95-year-old great-grandmother

Yallambee Lodge staff members reportedly called an ambulance just after 4am that morning with the two police officers arriving just before 5am. 

They discovered a frail Mrs Nowland sitting in a chair at a desk inside the nurse’s treatment room holding a knife in her right hand.

Referring to evidence allegedly gathered from body-worn police cameras, the family’s statement of claim alleges that at 5.08am the two officers put on slash proof gloves and discussed disarming Mrs Nowland.

‘Actually would it be an idea to get her out where we can just grab the knife off her,’ Senior Constable White allegedly said in the footage. 

‘I feel like I could do it right now,’ Sergeant Rachel Pank replied.

Mrs Nowland was then asked to drop the knife several times by the police officers.

‘Oi, we’re not playing this game Clare, you’re going to put that down,’ Constable White said in a transcript of the footage. 

‘This is your first warning. You see this. This is a taser. Drop it now,’ he said.

‘See, you keep coming, you’re going to get tasered.

‘Stop now. Don’t think I’m going to give you another warning.’

Mrs Nowland (pictured) tragically died after she was Tasered and suffered a bleed to the brain

The Yallambee Lodge in Southern NSW where the Taser incident occurred is pictured

Mourners are seen embracing each other at a funeral service for Mrs Nowland in June

Less than a minute later it is alleged White said: ‘Bugger it’ and fired the taser from two metres away, causing Clare to tumble from her walker and hit her head.

‘Clare come on. You’re all right. Talk to us Clare,’ the officers allegedly said after the 95-year-old fell down.

‘Are you OK? Is your head all right Clare?’ Sergeant Pank asked.

‘Didn’t expect it to be like that,’ Pank then says, said according to the transcript.

The Nowland family claims the officers’ discussion of the incident while Clare was on the floor was ‘demeaning, dismissive (and) self-serving’. 

They claim neither officer ‘apologised or expressed any regret or remorse’ to the family and alleged Constable White fired the taser their loved one was elderly. 

‘He knew or ought to have known Clare represented a low threat to himself … and presented a very small risk of injury to other persons,’ the family’s claim alleges.

‘The actions of White were grossly disproportionate and excessive use of force.’

Constable White is scheduled to next appear in Cooma Local Court on December 6.  

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