Cop who tasered 95-year-old woman with dementia, who later died as a result, avoids jail time

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Former Australian police officer Kristian White will not serve jail time for the fatal tasering of 95-year-old Clare Nowland. The decision has left her family “struggling to come to terms” with the justice system’s outcome.

Australian police officer Kristian White sentenced to community service

A jury convicted White, 35, of manslaughter last November after he deployed a Taser on Nowland at Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in Cooma, New South Wales, on May 17, 2023. Nowland, who had dementia and was using a walker, fell and sustained a fatal brain injury. She died in Cooma Hospital a week later.

Prosecutors appealed the sentence

In March, the court sentenced White to a two-year community corrections order and 425 hours of community service. Prosecutors later appealed the sentence and argued that it was “manifestly inadequate” given Nowland’s age, frailty, and vulnerability. However, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the appeal last week. Their ruling was while the sentence was “lenient,” it was not unjust or outside the bounds of judicial discretion.

Cop tasered 95-year-old woman with dementia

During the incident, White reportedly told Nowland to drop a knife she was holding before saying “bugger it” and firing his Taser. The confrontation lasted less than three minutes.

The court emphasized that general deterrence played a “minor role” in sentencing due to the lack of premeditation. “We do not live in a perfect world and errors of judgment, even ones as tragic and significant as that which occurred in the present case, regularly happen,” the judgment read.

Family reacts to the court’s decision

Nowland’s family, while respectful of the court’s decision, expressed heartbreak and disbelief. “How the NSW legal system can allow an outcome in which a former police officer who was convicted of using deadly force on Clare, a vulnerable and defenseless 95-year-old lady, can walk free without having spent a single day in jail is beyond comprehension,” the family said in a statement released by their solicitor.

Officials expect a coronial inquest to examine broader issues surrounding the case.