The 95-year-old grandmother tasered by a police officer in an aged care home has died.
Clare Nowland, a dementia sufferer who weighs just 43kg, had been holding a steak knife when she ‘slowly’ approached a police officer at the Yallambee Lodge in southern NSW just after 4am last Wednesday.
Senior Constable Kristian White, 33, then blasted a taser on Ms Nowland, prompting her to collapse to the ground, knock her head and suffer a bleed to the brain.
She is receiving end of life care in hospital.
White was charged on Wednesday evening with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
Clare Nowland (pictured, after she participated in a skydive in 2008) had been holding a steak knife when she ‘slowly’ approached the police officer
Senior constable Kristian White White (pictured at a police parade) was charged on Wednesday evening with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault
Speaking at a press conference, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said ‘This matter now is before the court and there’s little more that I can say about it other than to say that the Nowland family have been informed of this development’.
Commissioner Webb added that her ‘thoughts and prayers are with Mrs Nowland and her family this evening’.
White is due to appear at Cooma Local Court on Wednesday July 5, 2023. Of the charges he faces, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail.
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm carries a prison term of up to seven years, while being convicted of common assault could lead to up to two years behind bars.
The officer remains suspended from duty with pay.
Ms Nowland (pictured) is now receiving end of life care in Cooma District Hospital, in southern NSW , after she was Tasered by an officer early last Wednesday morning
Commissioner Webb said ‘his employment will continue to be reviewed, but at the moment, he is still suspended from the workplace’.
She added that the charges against White could be upgraded. ‘It is possible. It depends on what happens,’ she said.
When she was asked why she won’t you release the footage of Mrs Nowland being Tasered, she replied ‘I’m not the investigator.’
Investigations into the critical incident continue.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured) said her ‘thoughts and prayers are with Mrs Nowland and her family this evening’
The Yallambee Lodge in Southern NSW where the Taser incident occurred is pictured
