Cop who tasered grandma Clare Nowland breaks his silence – and reveals why he did it

A police officer who tasered an elderly woman, leading to her death, has said he did not want to injure her and only wanted to protect others from being stabbed.

The tasering of a 95-year-old woman was never intended to lead to her death but was done to prevent others from being stabbed, the police officer who fired the weapon has told a jury.

Senior Constable Kristian White fired his stun gun at Clare Nowland in a treatment room at the Yallambee Lodge retirement home in the southern NSW town of Cooma during the early hours of May 17, 2023.

The great-grandmother, who had symptoms of dementia and was holding a steak knife in her hands at the time, fell backwards and hit her head, dying in hospital a week later.

As White’s trial entered its second week on Monday, the 34-year-old explained from the witness stand that he only intended to incapacitate the elderly resident and disarm her of the bladed weapon.

“I am devastated and devastated,” he told the NSW Supreme Court.

“I didn’t mean for her to get hurt by this at all.”

The lead officer pointed the stun gun at Ms Nowland as she shuffled forward out of the treatment room, ignoring four of his verbal warnings and the loud electrical crackle of the weapon’s warning arc.

Senior Constable Kristian White (pictured) told the court he ‘never intended’ Clare Nowland to be injured when he fired his stun gun

Clare Nowland (pictured) ignored the loud electrical chatter of the Taser’s warning arc, said Kristian White

The great-grandmother on the night she was tasered (photo)

Kristian White (pictured) was unaware of the police taser procedure until Jessica Pank showed it to him

White argued that he tried to give the 95-year-old every opportunity to drop the knife.

He finally said ‘no, crap’ before firing the weapon as it was clear the incident – in which Ms Nowland had been armed with the knife for several hours – would not be resolved without violence.

“I didn’t want to have to taser Clare, but I was also concerned with the safety of everyone present,” White told the jury.

The 95-year-old had shown intent to use the knife by raising it at anyone who approached. Running away and letting her wander elsewhere in the facility would have been a gamble that put more people at risk, the officer said.

“Our job is to keep the peace,” he said under questioning by his lawyer, Troy Edwards SC.

“Allowing her to roam the halls with a knife would definitely be a violation of that peace in my view.”

White said he thought the Tasing was justified because it met the exceptional criteria police required for using the weapon on an elderly person.

Senior Constable Jessica Pank (centre) leaves the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney

But he admitted he was not aware of this test until after the incident, when his partner, then Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank, showed him police procedures.

White will be subject to a grilling by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC during the course of the trial.

The officer pleaded not guilty to manslaughter after being charged with criminal negligence or performing an unlawful and dangerous act leading to the unlawful killing of Ms Nowland.