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The Director of Public Prosecutors will appeal former police officer Kristian White’s sentence order over the manslaughter of Clare Nowland on the grounds a community corrections order is “manifestly inadequate”.
The son and daughter of Clare Nowland have spoken exclusively to 9News after White was spared jail over the 95-year-old’s death last week.
It’s been more than two years since Clare Nowland was tasered at Yulambi Lodge, her nursing home in Cooma, southern NSW.
Two of her oldest children were determined to stay silent until justice was done.
Last week, they were left devastated by the news that White won’t be serving any time behind bars for the manslaughter of the 95-year-old.
Asked whether they think White should be in prison, Nowland’s son Michael said: “Absolutely.”
“For a deliberate, inhumane act that he did, absolutely,” Michael told 9News.
“He had control of that weapon, he loaded the weapon, he pointed the weapon and discharged the weapon.”
“We’ve just got to get a sentence that matches the crime, all we want is justice.”
And the Director of Public Prosecutions agrees, today confirming it will appeal the sentence.
“At 95, we could accept our mother would die,” Nowland’s daughter Lesley Lloyd said.
“Even though I believe she had quite a few years to go.
“But to go the way she has, it’s just unacceptable, it’s just something I’ll never ever get over.
“It’s just been a weight on me for the last two years.
“I just can’t be myself, I don’t think. It’s just awful.”
White was handed a two-year community corrections order and ordered to complete 425 hours of community service.
Nowland was wandering her Cooma nursing home with a knife in the early hours of May 2023.
She suffered from dementia and relied on a walking frame.
The officer negotiated with her for less than three minutes, before he fired the Taser.
Today, Nowland’s children said she must have been terrified, and that she didn’t pose a threat to anyone.
Lesley Lloyd, spoke about being called by the nursing home about an hour before Nowland was Tasered.
She said she was told everything was under control.
She said never in her wildest imagination did she think it would end up like this.
Kristian White hasn’t been seen since the sentence, and will now be waiting to find out what an appeal might mean for his freedom.