A police officer who killed a 95-year-old granny after blasting her with his Taser has broken his silence for the first time, claiming he never intended her to come to any harm but stopped short of apologising to the victim’s distraught family.
Senior Constable Kristian White discharged his stun gun at Clare Nowland in a treatment room at Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma during the early hours of May 17, 2023.
In video footage played at his NSW Supreme Court trial, the 34-year-old officer was heard saying ‘nah, bugger it’ before shooting the great-grandmother in the torso.
A jury unanimously found White guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday, with crown prosecutors making a bid to place him behind bars a day later.
Justice Ian Harrison handed down his bail decision on Friday, rejecting the prosecutor’s detention application and ruling White could remain out of custody ahead of his sentencing.
After the courtroom coup, White hugged and kissed his partner Hannah, who has remained steadfast by his side throughout the trial, before the couple ignored media and returned to their home in Cooma.
However, White’s lawyer Warwick Anderson subsequently issued a statement on the officer’s behalf.
‘Mr White extends his thoughts and prayers to the Nowland family,’ the statement, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, said.
Senior Constable Kristian White (pictured hand-in-hand with his partner, Hannah) discharged his stun gun at Clare Nowland in a treatment room at Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma during the early hours of May 17, 2023
A jury found White guilty of manslaughter for using his Taser on 95-year-old grandmother Clare Nowland (pictured) which led to her death a week after the incident
‘Since that fateful morning, Kristian has tried to deal with the legal case against him, while confronting the pain that discharging his Taser ultimately resulted in Mrs Nowland’s death
‘He has never lost sight of the fact that Mrs Nowland passed away and he is acutely aware that the Nowland family is deeply hurt by what happened.’
‘Mr White gave sworn evidence before the Supreme Court in his trial, that he never intended for Mrs Nowland to be harmed or injured — and that he was, and remains, entirely devastated for the Nowland family’s loss.’
Police and paramedics were called to the nursing home after Mrs Nowland grabbed two steak knives from a kitchen before raising them against residents and staff and throwing one at a carer.
White pulled the trigger after only three minutes of negotiations to get Mrs Nowland to put down the remaining knife.
She hit her head on the floor as she fell and died at Cooma hospital a week later.
The officer’s defence barrister, Troy Edwards SC, previously argued that a prison sentence for the police officer was not inevitable.
Evidence filed with the court shows White would be placed into protective custody for his safety if imprisoned because of his status as a serving police officer.
White said he never intended to kill the grandmother and was ‘devastated’ by her death
‘The prisoner would be classified as ‘protection non association’ meaning he will not be in the physical presence of other inmates at any time,’ wrote Detective Sergeant Mitchell Bosworth of the Homicide Squad.
White’s employment has been suspended without pay while NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb goes through the necessary legal procedures to remove him from the force.
His sentence hearing is expected to be held in February.
