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A police officer has been spared jail and will serve a two-year sentence in the community for fatally Tasering a great-grandmother with dementia.
Former NSW Police officer Kristian White was in November last year over the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in May 2023.
White fired his Taser at the woman after being called to the Yallambee Lodge aged care home in the NSW town of Cooma.
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 .

On Friday, Justice Ian Harrison said in the NSW Supreme Court that White had made a “terrible mistake” and an error of judgement, but that his crime fell on the lower end of objective seriousness.

An elderly woman wearing a pink shirt.

Clare Nowland died after being Tasered in her aged care home by police officer Kristian White. Source: AAP / Supplied

The firing of the stun gun after only a few minutes of trying to disarm 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.
“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 Nowland’s family, while the former officer stood expressionless as his sentence was handed down.

In a letter to Nowland’s family provided to the court, White apologised and expressed regret.
“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.

‘Slap on the wrist’

Speaking outside court, Nowland’s son, Michael Nowland, called the sentence “a slap on the wrist”, adding that it was “hard to process”.
White will have to perform 425 hours of community service as part of his two-year community corrections order.

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.

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