Family rues cop’s lack of remorse for tasing great-gran
Miklos Bolza |
The heartbroken family of a fatally tasered 95-year-old great-grandmother is lamenting the lack of remorse shown by the responsible police officer.
Then-senior constable Kristian James Samuel White fired his weapon at Clare Nowland after being called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home at Cooma in southern NSW early on the morning of May 17, 2023.
Mrs Nowland, who had symptoms of dementia, had taken two steak knives from a kitchen area and refused to give them up.
Falling and hitting her head after being struck in the chest by the Taser’s barbs, she did not regain consciousness and died in hospital a week later after a brain bleed.
Mrs Nowland’s daughter Jenny Jordan told an inquest three years later her family still grappled with the circumstances.
“The family feel the officer who made the decision to take out the Taser and pull the trigger … has shown no remorse or accountability for his actions,” she told Queanbeyan Coroners Court on Friday.
“To know a policeman has been convicted of manslaughter for causing mum’s unlawful death, and learning more about the circumstances of how and why she died, is something we have to live with for the remainder of our lives.”
Mrs Nowland was remembered as a woman who loved life and her family – someone who was adventurous, bold and made the most of every day.
“She was an inspiration to us all,” Ms Jordan said.
“Mum’s legacy lives on with all those who knew her and loved her – in our hearts forever.”
State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan thanked the Nowland family for their beautiful words about an extraordinary woman who led a full life.
“She was brave and strong and loving and what’s really clear is that love she got from all of you,” she said.
Every person involved in the inquest aimed to prevent this kind of tragedy happening to other elderly people, those with dementia and their families, Judge O’Sullivan said.
Earlier on Friday, geriatrician Susan Kurrle testified attending police and paramedics could have just left the 95-year-old alone to calm down.
“That in this case would have been the least of all evils,” the professor said.
Mrs Nowland had not shown any prior thoughts of self-harm and aged care staff could have kept the door ajar a little to supervise, she added.
Professor Joseph Ibrahim said he would have grabbed a chair and sat in the doorway, distracting her with topics about how early in the morning it was.
He shrugged off any concerns after counsel assisting Sophie Callan SC said the 95-year-old could have thrown the knife at him.
“The likelihood that she would have been able to aim it, hit a vital spot is extraordinarily remote,” he said.
Prof Kurrle told the inquest dementia was “childhood development backwards”.
This required anyone approaching a person with dementia to do so as they would a young child – gentle, smiling, without being threatening.
At the three-day inquest, which began on Wednesday, Judge O’Sullivan has examined systemic issues that existed prior to the tasering incident.
The focus of the evidence has been dementia care and training for aged care staff, police and ambulance officers.
Judge O’Sullivan has heard of numerous alternatives available to White and other police and paramedics attending, including contacting Mrs Nowland’s daughter Lesley Lloyd for help de-escalating the situation.
White was convicted of manslaughter by a NSW Supreme Court jury in November 2024, losing his job with the police force a month later.
He was given a two-year good behaviour bond in March 2025, a decision which was later upheld by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.
AAP