Kristian White: Cop who killed great-grandmother Clare Nowland with Taser spared jail

A police officer has been spared jail for what a judge described as his terrible mistake of fatally tasering a great-grandmother with dementia.

Former senior constable Kristian James Samuel White will walk out of the NSW Supreme Court on Friday subject to strict conditions after killing 95-year-old Clare Nowland in the southern NSW town of Cooma.

The 35-year-old fired his Taser at the elderly woman after being called to the Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the early hours of May 17, 2023.

In handing down his decision, Justice Ian Harrison found White made a “terrible mistake” but that his crime fell at the lower end of seriousness when compared to other manslaughter cases.

The firing of the stun gun after only a few minutes of trying to disarm Mrs Nowland was unlawful, dangerous and resulted from White misreading or misunderstanding the situation, the judge said.

“A frail and confused 95-year-old woman in fact posed nothing that could reasonably be described as a threat of any substance,” he told the packed courtroom.

Mrs Nowland’s death was serious, Justice Harrison said as he acknowledged the grief and anger her family felt while struggling to cope with the enormity of her passing.

“The complete and utter frustration and despair exhibited by her family in the circumstances is easy to understand when things could have so easily been handled better,” he said.

However, White was only caught up in the incident as a police officer who had been lawfully called to the care facility, the judge noted.

“He was required to resolve the situation ... and could not have chosen to do nothing,” he said.

There were tears by members of Mrs Nowland’s family, while the former officer stood expressionless as his sentence was handed down.

White will have to be on good behaviour and perform 425 hours of community service as part of his two-year community corrections order.

In a letter to Mrs Nowland’s family provided to the court, White expressed his sincere apologies and regret over what had happened.

“I take full responsibility for my actions - I felt and still feel horrible for what happened,” he wrote.

“I do not expect you to take my apology as a request for forgiveness and I understand that you suffer greatly.”

The former officer has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic-stress disorder after the incident and will have to move from the small town of Cooma because of the anger against him there.

Mrs Nowland was holding a knife while using a walking frame and had been ignoring attempts by staff to disarm her before she was shot with the weapon.

The 35-year-old officer said “nah, bugger it” before firing the Taser’s barbs at her chest, causing her to fall and strike her head.

The great-grandmother suffered a bleed on the brain and died in hospital a week later.

White was removed from the police force in December after the guilty verdict, but he has launched legal action for a review of that decision.