Former police officer Kristian White should be imprisoned for fatally shooting a 95-year-old great-grandmother with a Taser and still has not expressed genuine remorse for the crime, the crown prosecutor has told the NSW Supreme Court.
White was convicted of manslaughter last year over the death of Clare Nowland, whom he shot with a Taser at an aged care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of 17 May 2023.
White was called to the Yallambee Lodge home after Nowland, who was displaying symptoms of dementia, was found disoriented in the middle of the night, walking around the property carrying a serrated knife.
Nowland, who was frail, weighed just 47 kilograms, and could only move slowly with the aid of a walker, was confronted by White, who ordered her to put the knife down.
When Nowland did not comply, appearing not to understand the instruction, White said “nah, bugger it,” and fired his taser at her chest, causing her to fall heavily and hit her head. He fired his taser within three minutes of seeing Nowland at the home, the court heard.
Nowland died a week later in hospital after suffering inoperable bleeding in the brain. She never regained consciousness.
A sentencing hearing on Friday, attended by dozens of members of Nowland’s extended family, heard submissions from the crown prosecutor and from White’s barrister, Troy Edwards SC, over sentencing.
Edwards told the court the former police officer had displayed sincere remorse for his actions. Evidence before the court recorded White in tears, telling a forensic psychologist: “I’m devastated, I’ve had to live with it, day-in day-out.”
Edwards said White held an “honest belief” that he faced danger from Nowland, and that he made a “mistake of judgement” rather than acting with malevolence.
“This offence is at the lowest end” of manslaughter convictions that have come before the court, Edwards said, adding it was open to the court not to impose a sentence of imprisonment. The court was taken to a number of NSW convictions for manslaughter that had not resulted in imprisonment, but none were directly analogous, the court heard.
Last year, in continuing White’s bail, Justice Ian Harrison said it was not “inevitable” that White be imprisoned. The judge commented on the “notoriously protean nature of manslaughter offences” and the “extraordinary range” of sentencing options available to the court: from 25 years’ imprisonment to a non-custodial sentence.
Harrison said the case was “unlike any other that I have had to confront” over nearly two decades on the bench.
In his sentencing submissions on Friday, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC rejected assertions from White’s lawyers that Nowland’s manslaughter was “at the lower end” of those offences.
“It’s a conviction for manslaughter and the death of a person is, on any level, a serious offence.
“The offender’s case that there was an imminent threat… was plainly rejected by the jury.”
Harrison suggested the situation could have been resolved differently.
“If everyone had sat down and waited for Mrs Nowland to come out, or, on another view, offered her a cup of tea and a bun, things might have been significantly different… apply a bit of common sense and patience, and we’d have all been happily on our way.”
For the crown, Hatfield argued White had not expressed genuine remorse for his crime, most obviously demonstrated by his appeal against his dismissal from the police force.
“He obviously does not accept that he is guilty of manslaughter in a proper sense,” Hatfield said.
“His position seems to be that he was justified in doing what he did, that he shouldn’t be punished for what he did.”
Hatfield told the court: “this case warrants… a full-time custodial sentence”.
White has not spent any time in prison. While his case was before the courts, he was suspended by NSW police on full pay. He was dismissed from the force in December last year in the days after he was convicted, but has launched action in the Industrial Relations Commission seeking a review of that decision by the police commissioner.
Earlier on Friday, the court heard a series of victim impact statements from members of Nowland’s large extended family – the 95-year-old was a mother of eight, grandmother of 24, and great-grandmother of 31.
Michael Nowland, Clare Nowland’s eldest son, told the court he fell into a state of shock at the “inhumane act” perpetrated on his mother.
“This was unfathomable,” he said.
“Who in their right mind would do this to a frail 95-year-old lady?
“To this day I am traumatised by this gutless coward act.”
Michael Nowland described his mother as “the most caring person in the world”, who was not allowed to die with dignity.
“The Nowland family wants justice and fairness.”
Clare Nowland’s granddaughter Kim Lloyd directed her victim impact statement directly at White, who sat alone in the dock across the courtroom, with his head bowed.
She told the former police officer his reckless decision to fire his taser at her grandmother was “unforgivable”.
“Your actions were disgracefully unfair and unjust.”
Several members of the Nowland family said the fact that White had been at liberty during the legal proceedings exacerbated their suffering, saying they often encountered him in the small Cooma community.
Harrison reserved his decision. He said the case, given its gravity, would require significant time to decide an appropriate penalty.
“Justice can’t be rushed, I don’t want to rush it.”
