Police officer, Kristian White, who tasered elderly grandmother Clare Nowland in Cooma seeks judge-only manslaughter trial

A police officer accused of killing a 95-year-old woman with dementia when he tasered her is seeking a judge-only trial.

Senior Constable Kristian White is alleged to have caused Clare Nowland’s death after he tasered her at her aged-care home in the NSW town of Cooma in May 2023.

The 33-year-old was charged with manslaughter, to which he pleaded not guilty during his arraignment at the NSW Supreme Court in April.

His barrister, Troy Edwards SC, on Wednesday asked for White to be tried without a jury when the case went to trial.

Justice Ian Harrison ruled the application would be finalised on October 14, at which time the matter would be heard by a different judge.

White tasered the great-grandmother after she was confronted by police while holding a steak knife and a walking frame in her residence.

She was repeatedly asked by staff, paramedics and police to drop the knife, according to a police statement of facts previously tendered in court.

Ms Nowland hit her head on the floor when she fell after being tasered.

She was taken to Cooma Hospital, where she died the following week.

White was initially charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

But those charges were later withdrawn in favour of manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison after investigators received advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Both sides have flagged plans to call on police experts as witnesses when the four-week trial commences in November.