A former police officer who fatally Tasered a 95-year-old Australian woman after she refused his orders to drop a knife has been spared jail, with the victim’s family decrying the sentence as a “slap on the wrist.”
Kristian White was found guilty of manslaughter after shocking Clare Nowland with the Taser while on police duty in the early hours of May 17, 2023, in a case that sparked public outcry.
Last November, a jury rejected his claim that Nowland posed a threat and found the former senior constable guilty of breaching his duty of care by deploying his weapon against the elderly woman, who later died of her injuries.
Sentencing White on Friday, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison said the former officer’s actions were “a terrible mistake,” but that his crime fell at the lower end of objective seriousness.
Police were called to Nowland’s nursing home in Cooma – about 70 miles south of the capital Canberra – after the great-grandmother, who was showing signs of dementia, refused repeated requests by staff to surrender knives she was holding and return to her room.
After responding to the call-out, White spent about three minutes trying to convince Nowland to put down a steak knife, before saying, “Nah, bugger it,” and deploying his Taser.
Nowland, who had a walking aid, fell and hit her head, fracturing her skull. She died in hospital a week later, surrounded by family.
White was sentenced to a community corrections order for a period of two years, and 425 hours of community service. The order allows convicted criminals to serve their sentence in the community under some restrictions, such as curfews and alcohol bans.
Harrison said in his sentencing that a jail term was not necessary given White had already lost his job and become an “unwelcome member” of the Cooma community as a result of his actions.
Furthermore, he said, White does not represent a risk to the community or of reoffending. He said imposing community service work would be an “appropriate and adequate method” of meeting the sentencing conditions of punishment.
White had served as a police officer for 12 years before being removed from his position following his conviction.
The ‘axis’ of the family
Nowland’s eldest son, Michael, told reporters outside the court in Sydney that the verdict was “really disappointing for the family” and was “a slap on the wrist for someone that’s killed our mother.”
“It’s very, very hard to process that,” he told reporters.
Over the course of the trial, some of Nowland’s children and grandchildren read victim statements to the court, describing her as the “axis” of the family.
She had raised eight children alone but also had made time for others in her community, they said. Nowland also had dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Michael Nowland told the court in February of his “shock, disbelief and anger” at hearing what had happened to her.
“I could not process how a normal human being, let alone a police officer, could possibly perform such an inappropriate and inhumane act on a frail, 95-year-old lady who weighed 47 kilos (103 pounds),” Michael Nowland said.
Gemma Murphy, Clare Nowland’s daughter, said she’d be forever haunted by the former officer’s bodycam video, that showed the moment he deployed the Taser on her mother.
“The irreverent footage of my mother’s last moments has left an indelible mark on my psyche. It is a grotesque image that I cannot erase, made even more unbearable by the echoes of Kristian White’s words – ‘Nah, bugger it’ and ‘got her.’”
“The utter disregard (White) displayed for my mum in her time of need and care will forever echo in my ears,” she said.
Several of Nowland’s relatives told of their distress at the media coverage, with one of her daughters, Jennifer Jordan, describing how her mother, a “humble, independent person,” would have been “mortified” by the large attendance at her funeral.
White ‘misread’ the situation, judge rules
White was one of two police officers called to the Yallambee Lodge nursing home by staff who asked for help with a resident who was holding two knives.
While the deployment of a Taser was unlawful and dangerous, Justice Harrison ruled that White made “an error of judgment” and that his actions were motivated by an “honest but mistaken and unreasonable belief about the existence and nature of the threat that was posed.”
“The simple but tragic fact would seem to me to be that Mr. White completely, and on one available view inexplicably, misread and misunderstood the dynamics of the situation,” Harrison said.
In a letter to Nowland’s family provided to the court, White apologized and expressed regret.
“I deeply regret my actions and the severe consequences they have caused, to not only Mrs. Nowland, but also to your family and the greater community,” White wrote. “I understand that my actions were adjudged to be wrong and have caused great harm not only to Mrs. Nowland, but also the emotional pain it caused to others, and for that, I am truly sorry.”
White’s defense lawyer Warwick Anderson told reporters outside court Friday that the former officer’s family were “very relieved” at the outcome, according to public broadcaster ABC.
“They’re now going to take their time and move on with their lives,” Anderson said.