Good afternoon. A police officer who fatally shot a 95-year-old woman in a nursing home with a Taser because she refused to put down a sharp knife has been convicted of manslaughter in the New South Wales supreme court.
A jury heard Sen Const Kristian White was called to a nursing home in Cooma in May 2023. After Clare Nowland refused instructions to put down the sharp, serrated knife over several hours, the court heard White discharged his Taser, knocking the great-grandmother backwards, during which she struck her head. Nowland died a week later from bleeding on the brain.
White’s barrister had argued that White’s use of the Taser was a reasonable use of force against an imminent threat, while crown prosecutors argued White’s utterance of “nah, bugger it” before discharging the stun gun showed he was “fed up, impatient” with the 95-year-old.
White will remain on bail until he is sentenced, with Justice Ian Harrison to hear arguments from the prosecution and defence on Friday.
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