A police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman in an Australian care home has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Great-grandmother Clare Nowland had left her room at the Yallambee Lodge care home outside of Canberra, Australia, with two steak knives in May of last year.
She took the knives into another resident’s room, who said he did not feel threatened, before throwing one of the knives at a member of staff.
Ms Nowland proceeded to approach Chief Constable Kristian White, 34, with a knife in-hand, while clutching her walking frame with her other hand.
She edged towards him slowly, but when she was between 1.5 and 2 metres away, White reportedly said ‘bugger it’ and fired his taser at her.
The woman hit her head as she fell, causing critical injuries including a fractured skull.
She ultimately died from the injuries sustained to her head in hospital a week later.
White said he decided to use his taser because a ‘violent confrontation was imminent,’ but he was this week found guilty of manslaughter by a jury in Sydney.
The jury deliberated for some 20 hours before eventually convicting the officer.
The court was shown video footage of the incident, in which White could be heard telling the great-grandmother to put down the knife down 21 times before he eventually tasered her.
Ms Nowland was survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 31
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb expressed her ‘deepest condolences’ to the family of Ms Nowland who she said died ‘as a result of the actions of a police officer.’
She added it ‘should never have happened.’
Ms Nowland’s family told LBC following the guilty verdict that it would take them ‘some time’ to come to terms with the fact that their beloved family member died ‘at the hands of a serving NSW police officer.’
White will be sentenced at a later date.
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