Featured Image Credit: 9News
Topics: Australia, Crime, World News
Anish Vij
The eldest children of a 95-year-old woman who was tasered by an ex police offer have spoken out following her death.
Former Australian police officer Kristian White avoided prison time after he was sentenced last month for killing the nursing home resident with a stun gun on 17 May, 2023.
Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who suffered from dementia, was heading through a nursing home in Cooma with a walker and a steak knife, before she was confronted by White.
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White, who was sacked from the New South Wales police in December, fired his taser at her within minutes of confronting her. She fell back and hit her head on the floor.
A week later, Nowland died in hospital from an inoperable brain bleed.
Following the incident, White said in the Computerised Operational Policing System (CoPS) that he took action because ‘a violent confrontation was imminent, and to prevent injury to police, the taser was discharged’.
White has now been sentenced to 425 hours of community service and is placed under the supervision of a corrections officer for two years for manslaughter.
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“Mr White made by what any measure was a terrible mistake,” Justice Ian Harrison said. “It is at the lower end of seriousness of crimes amounting to wrongful death.”
Nowland's two eldest children, however, are not happy with the verdict. Though they are pleased that the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) announced that it would be appealing the decision.
The woman's son, Michael, said that White should 'absolutely' be behind bars.
"For a deliberate, inhumane act that he did, absolutely," he told 9News.
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"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."
Nowland's daughter, Lesley Lloyd, added: "At 95, we could accept our mother would die.
"Even though I believe she had quite a few years to go.
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"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."
Michael said: "He had control of that weapon, he loaded the weapon, and he pointed the weapon and discharged the weapon, it's a deliberate action that needs to be punished.
"We've just got to get a sentence that matches the crime, all we want is justice."
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LADbible Group has contacted Kristian White's defence lawyer for comment.