A decision not to imprison the former police officer who fatally tasered an aged-care resident rightly took into account hostility against him, an appeals court has ruled.

Then-senior constable Kristian James Samuel White, 35, fired his Taser at 95-year-old Clare Nowland after being called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home at Cooma in southern NSW on May 17, 2023.

His sentence was upheld after three judges from the NSW Court of Appeal dismissed a legal challenge by prosecutors seeking a jail term on Wednesday.

“The sentence imposed, albeit lenient, was not manifestly inadequate,” a summary of the decision by Chief Justice Andrew Bell and Justices Anthony Payne and Natalie Adams read.

“Conviction of the offence of manslaughter did not, in the exceptional circumstances of this case, mandate a custodial sentence.”

White’s partner was teary as the appeals court handed down its decision.

During the brief two-minute and 40-second encounter at Yallambee Lodge, the then-officer drew his stun gun and pointed it at Nowland for a minute before saying “nah, bugger it” and discharging the weapon at her chest.

The 48kg great-grandmother, who had symptoms of dementia, fell and hit her head.

She did not regain consciousness and died in hospital a week later after a fatal brain bleed.

Justice Harrison took into account the impact of Nowland’s death on her family and the community when determining his sentence, Bell wrote.

But the sentencing judge also rightly considered that White had lost his job with the NSW Police Force and was unwelcome in the small town of Cooma where he lived, the chief judge noted.

The 35-year-old has been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety and has admitted to thoughts of self-harm since he was sentenced.

The appeals court upheld Harrison’s finding that White’s actions were at the “lower end of seriousness” compared to other manslaughter cases.

Bell rejected criticisms of Harrison’s ruling that general deterrence – stopping other police officers from the same actions – played only a minor role in deciding what sentence to impose.

This was especially so for cases such as White’s, where there was no premeditation, the chief judge said.

“We do not live in a perfect world and errors of judgment, even ones as tragic and significant as that which occurred in the present case, regularly happen,” Bell wrote.

White did not say anything to reporters outside court but stared straight ahead as he left with his partner.

Solicitor Sam Tierney said the Nowland family needed time to consider the court’s decision.

“They would very much like to thank the court and, in particular, the Director of Public Prosecutions and their team for their hard work in pursuing this appeal.”

There was a potential to make an application for special leave to the High Court, but that was a decision for the DPP, Tierney said.

Nowland’s family was looking ahead to a coronial inquest, when wider issues would be considered, the solicitor told reporters.

White is fighting the loss of his job with NSW Police.

A conciliation conference is due to be held in the Industrial Relations Commission on August 12.

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