This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/feb/07/kristian-white-sentence-manslaughter-clare-nowland-ntwnfb

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Actions of police officer who shot 95-year-old with Taser ‘inexcusable’, Clare Nowland’s granddaughter says Former police officer should be jailed for fatally shooting 95-year-old with Taser, court told
(about 4 hours later)
Kim Lloyd tells court ‘immediate repulsion’ has not dissipated for Kristian White, who fatally shot dementia patient with Taser in 2023 Clare Nowland’s manslaughter case was ‘unlike any other that I have had to confront’, judge tells Kristian White’s sentencing hearing
The granddaughter of a 95-year-old dementia patient who was shot by a police officer with a Taser has said she feels “repulsion” for the officer’s actions, which were “inexcusable, unimaginable and unforgivable”. Former police officer Kristian White should be imprisoned for fatally shooting a 95-year-old great-grandmother with a Taser and still has not expressed genuine remorse for the crime, the crown prosecutor has told the NSW Supreme Court.
Kristian James Samuel White was found guilty of manslaughter after shooting Clare Nowland with a Taser at Yallambee Lodge aged care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of 17 May 2023. White was convicted of manslaughter last year over the death of Clare Nowland, whom he shot with a Taser at an aged care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of 17 May 2023.
He is facing a sentence hearing in the NSW supreme court on Friday, during which prosecutors are expected to argue he should serve time behind bars. White was called to the Yallambee Lodge home after Nowland, who was displaying symptoms of dementia, was found disoriented in the middle of the night, walking around the property carrying a serrated knife.
Nowland’s granddaughter Kim Lloyd directed her victim impact statement at White, who sat in the dock across the courtroom with his head bowed. Nowland, who was frail, weighed just 47 kilograms, and could only move slowly with the aid of a walker, was confronted by White, who ordered her to put the knife down.
She told White his reckless decision to fire his Taser at her grandmother was “inexcusable, unimaginable and unforgiveable”. When Nowland did not comply, appearing not to understand the instruction, White said “nah, bugger it,” and fired his taser at her chest, causing her to fall heavily and hit her head. He fired his taser within three minutes of seeing Nowland at the home, the court heard.
“The immediate repulsion I have for you has not dissipated, and I don’t believe it ever will,” she said. Nowland died a week later in hospital after suffering inoperable bleeding in the brain. She never regained consciousness.
“Your actions were disgracefully unfair and unjust.” A sentencing hearing on Friday, attended by dozens of members of Nowland’s extended family, heard submissions from the crown prosecutor and from White’s barrister, Troy Edwards SC, over sentencing.
Michael Nowland, the eldest son of Clare Nowland, told the court of the trauma of losing his mother. He said he fell into a state of shock at the “inhumane act” perpetrated on his mother. Edwards told the court the former police officer had displayed sincere remorse for his actions. Evidence before the court recorded White in tears, telling a forensic psychologist: “I’m devastated, I’ve had to live with it, day-in day-out.”
“This was unfathomable,” he said. Edwards said White held an “honest belief” that he faced danger from Nowland, and that he made a “mistake of judgement” rather than acting with malevolence.
“Who in their right mind would do this to a frail 95-year-old lady?” “This offence is at the lowest end” of manslaughter convictions that have come before the court, Edwards said, adding it was open to the court not to impose a sentence of imprisonment. The court was taken to a number of NSW convictions for manslaughter that had not resulted in imprisonment, but none were directly analogous, the court heard.
“To this day I am traumatised by this gutless coward act. This continues to cause me sleepless nights and anger, blaming myself as to how I could have negated this act and protected my mother.” Last year, in continuing White’s bail, Justice Ian Harrison said it was not “inevitable” that White be imprisoned. The judge commented on the “notoriously protean nature of manslaughter offences” and the “extraordinary range” of sentencing options available to the court: from 25 years’ imprisonment to a non-custodial sentence.
Michael Nowland described his mother as “the most caring person in the world”, who was not allowed to die with dignity. Harrison said the case was “unlike any other that I have had to confront” over nearly two decades on the bench.
“The Nowland family want justice and fairness.” In his sentencing submissions on Friday, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC rejected assertions from White’s lawyers that Nowland’s manslaughter was “at the lower end” of those offences.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email “It’s a conviction for manslaughter and the death of a person is, on any level, a serious offence.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email “The offender’s case that there was an imminent threat… was plainly rejected by the jury.”
White’s barrister had previously argued a jail sentence was not inevitable given the nature of his offending. Harrison suggested the situation could have been resolved differently.
In his sentencing submissions, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC rejected assertions from White’s lawyers that Nowland’s manslaughter was “at the lower end” of those offences. “If everyone had sat down and waited for Mrs Nowland to come out, or, on another view, offered her a cup of tea and a bun, things might have been significantly different… apply a bit of common sense and patience, and we’d have all been happily on our way.”
“This was a serious criminal offence. It’s a conviction for manslaughter and the death of a person is, on any level, a serious offence. For the crown, Hatfield argued White had not expressed genuine remorse for his crime, most obviously demonstrated by his appeal against his dismissal from the police force.
“The offender’s case that there was an imminent threat … was plainly rejected by the jury. None of the responders there were in any danger.”
Hatfield also said White failed to express genuine contrition and remorse for his crime, most obviously demonstrated by White’s appeal against his dismissal from the police force.
“He obviously does not accept that he is guilty of manslaughter in a proper sense,” Hatfield said.“He obviously does not accept that he is guilty of manslaughter in a proper sense,” Hatfield said.
“His position seems to be that he was justified in doing what he did, that he shouldn’t be punished for what he did.”“His position seems to be that he was justified in doing what he did, that he shouldn’t be punished for what he did.”
At the time of the incident, Nowland was holding a knife and was not compliant with requests from staff, a court was told during a trial in November. Hatfield told the court: “this case warrants… a full-time custodial sentence”.
After being shot with a Taser by White, she fell to the ground and fractured her skull, dying in hospital a week later. White has not spent any time in prison. While his case was before the courts, he was suspended by NSW police on full pay. He was dismissed from the force in December last year in the days after he was convicted, but has launched action in the Industrial Relations Commission seeking a review of that decision by the police commissioner.
Despite White arguing he felt the great-grandmother posed a threat at the time, a jury unanimously found him guilty of manslaughter. Sign up to Breaking News Australia
He was sacked from the force almost a week after the verdict but later launched legal proceedings challenging that decision. Get the most important news as it breaks
Supreme court judge Ian Harrison refused a motion in December for White to be taken into custody, finding it possible he ultimately would not see the inside of a jail cell. after newsletter promotion
Harrison noted at the time he did not want to “cause distress or frustration” to those who see nothing other than a sentence of full-time imprisonment appropriate for White. Earlier on Friday, the court heard a series of victim impact statements from members of Nowland’s large extended family - the 95-year-old was a mother of eight, grandmother of 24, and great-grandmother of 31.
“I should not want to give unwarranted hope to Mr White that he will avoid a sentence of full-time imprisonment,” the judge said at the time. Michael Nowland, Clare Nowland’s eldest son, told the court he fell into a state of shock at the “inhumane act” perpetrated on his mother.
“I am simply not comfortable making … a decision as a bail authority with respect to Mr White based on a conclusion that he will be sentenced to imprisonment to be served by full-time detention.” “This was unfathomable,” he said.
Police and paramedics were called to Nowland’s nursing home after the great-grandmother grabbed two steak knives from a kitchen and raised them against residents and staff before throwing one at a carer. “Who in their right mind would do this to a frail 95-year-old lady?
White pulled the Taser’s trigger after three minutes of negotiations to get her to put down the remaining knife. “To this day I am traumatised by this gutless coward act.”
He was heard in video footage played at his trial saying “nah, bugger it” before shooting Nowland with a Taser in the torso. Michael Nowland described his mother as “the most caring person in the world”, who was not allowed to die with dignity.
“The Nowland family wants justice and fairness.”
Clare Nowland’s granddaughter Kim Lloyd directed her victim impact statement directly at White, who sat alone in the dock across the courtroom, with his head bowed.
She told the former police officer his reckless decision to fire his taser at her grandmother was “unforgivable”.
“Your actions were disgracefully unfair and unjust.”
Several members of the Nowland family said the fact that White had been at liberty during the legal proceedings exacerbated their suffering, saying they often encountered him in the small Cooma community.
Harrison reserved his decision. He said the case, given its gravity, would require significant time to decide an appropriate penalty.
“Justice can’t be rushed, I don’t want to rush it.”