Kristian White sacked by NSW Police after fatally tasering Clare Nowland in Cooma nursing home

The family of a 95-year-old woman who was fatally tasered by a police officer have slammed NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb for doing “too little, too late”. Following a trial in the NSW Supreme Court, Senior Constable Kristian White was found guilty on Wednesday of the manslaughter of Clare Nowland, 95, in a nursing home in Cooma. White had been suspended with pay throughout the court proceedings, but his pay was revoked the day after the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict. On Tuesday – nearly a week later – he was fired from the NSW Police Force. “Today I have determined that I do not have confidence in the officer’s suitability to continue as a police officer,” NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said in a statement. “Accordingly, I have removed him from the NSW Police Force and he has been advised via his legal counsel.” Commissioner Webb said she had informed Mrs Nowland’s family of her decision. In a statement released by their lawyer Sam Tierney, the family said they were aware White’s employment had “finally been terminated”. “The Nowland family consider the decision to be too little, too late where the Commissioner has had full access to all materials on which the jury last week found Mr White guilty of the unlawful killing of Clare for over 12 months and chose to take no action,” they said. White had been pulled from his bed and 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. When he arrived, Mrs Nowland was found sitting in an office with one knife and a four wheeled walking frame which she used to slowly get to her feet. During his three-minute interaction with Mrs Nowland, White asked her to stay seated and put down the knife while she shuffled forward with both hands on her walker. 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 died from her injuries a week later. In a press conference after White was found guilty of manslaughter, Commissioner Webb said Mrs Nowland’s death was a “terrible tragedy”. “The court has found Clare Nowland died as a result of the actions of a police officer,” she said. “This should never have happened.” During the trial, White gave evidence that he didn’t intend to hurt Mrs Nowland when he discharged his service Taser at her. In a statement obtained by the Daily Telegraph, White’s lawyer Warwick Anderson said his client was “entirely devastated for the Nowland family’s loss”. “He has never lost sight of the fact that Mrs Nowland passed away and he is acutely aware that the Nowland family is deeply hurt by what happened,” the statement read. The former police officer remains on bail after Justice Ian Harrison refused to grant a detention application made by the Crown prosecutor. He told the court a jail sentence was “not inevitable” and expressed concern about “the risk of victimisation of, and gratuitous violence directed to, convicted police officers by other inmates in so-called correctional facilities.” Mrs Nowland’s family said they were “disappointed” with the decision not to detain White after he was found guilty of the manslaughter of their matriarch. “The family is struggling to understand why the Court felt it was appropriate to leave Mr White on bail and free in the Cooma community without any real restrictions in light of that conviction,” they said in a statement issued on Friday. Mrs Nowland is survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.