Cooma, NSW – Australian authorities have upheld a two-year good behavior bond for a former police officer who fatally tasered a 95-year-old woman at a nursing home, citing exceptional circumstances and considering the officer’s loss of job and livelihood.
Then-senior constable Kristian James Samuel White, 35, was found guilty of manslaughter for firing his Taser at Clare Nowland on May 17, 2023, during a brief encounter at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma.
The elderly woman fell, hit her head, and died a week later from a fatal brain bleed.
The NSW Court of Appeal ruled that the original sentence, which included community service, was not “manifestly inadequate” despite being considered lenient.
The judges took into account the impact of Nowland’s death on her family and the community, as well as the consequences faced by White, who has been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety and was unwelcome in the small town of Cooma where he lived.
The appeals court rejected criticisms that the sentencing judge did not adequately consider general deterrence, noting that White’s actions were at the “lower end of seriousness” compared to other manslaughter cases, and that there was no premeditation.
The Nowland family is considering their next steps, including a potential application for special leave to the High Court, and is looking ahead to a coronial inquest that will examine wider issues.
White is also fighting the loss of his job with NSW Police, with a conciliation conference scheduled for August 12.
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