Sydney, Australia — A police officer who shocked a 95-year-old nursing home resident with a Taser was found guilty of manslaughter by an Australian court on Wednesday. A jury has found Kristian James Samuel White guilty in the Sydney trial after 20 hours of deliberation. White, who is out on bail, could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted later.
Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who suffered from dementia and used a walker, refused to put down the steak knife she was holding when the officer fired his Taser at her in May 2023. Nowland fell backwards after White shocked her and died a week later in hospital.
Police said at the time that Nowland suffered her fatal injuries from hitting her head on the ground, rather than directly from the device’s debilitating electric shock.
Reuters
White’s employment is under review and subject to legal proceedings, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters after the verdict.
“The court has found that Claire Nowland died as a result of the actions of a police officer. This should never have happened,” Webb said, expressing her “deepest condolences” to Nowland’s family. State police reviewed Taser policy and training in January and no changes have been made, she added.
In a video played during the trial in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, White was heard saying “no, crap” before firing his weapon, after officers told Nowland 21 times to put the knife down. White, 34, told the jury that he had been taught that anyone who handled a knife was dangerous, the Guardian reported.
But after an eight-day trial, the jury rejected arguments from White’s lawyers that his use of the Taser was a proportionate response to the threat posed by Nowland, who weighed about 100 pounds.
White and other officers were called to the nursing home by staff who told them a woman was “armed with a knife.”
Police said they urged Nowland to drop the serrated steak knife before she walked toward them “at a slow pace” with her walker, prompting White to fire his Taser at her.
The prosecutor argued that White’s use of the Taser was “completely unnecessary and clearly excessive,” according to local news media.
The extraordinary case sparked debate about how officers in the state use Tasers, a device that incapacitates people who use electricity.
Nowland, a resident of Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in the city of Cooma, left behind eight children, 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Lawyers for Nowland’s family filed a separate civil suit last year against the New South Wales state government, which is seeking damages on behalf of her estate for alleged assault and battery. The lawsuit was settled on private terms in March this year.
Reuters
Cooma businessman and community advocate Andrew Thaler said on Australian television not long after the incident that Nowland was “approximately 6ft tall and weighs a total of 43kg. [about 95 pounds]she cannot walk independently without walking assistance.”
“The use of a Taser, when a kind word was all she needed, when she was confused — what happens to people with dementia — she needed kind words and help and assistance,” Thaler said. “She didn’t need the force of the law.”
