'Nah, bugger it': Jurors see footage of police officer tasering 95-year-old Clare Nowland

Jurors have seen footage of the moment a police officer said, “Nah, bugger it”, before he tasered a 95-year-old woman carrying a knife in an aged care home.

The moment Kristian James Samuel White tasered Clare Nowland at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma on 17 May 2023 was captured on both security and body-worn cameras.

This caused the elderly woman to fall over and hit her head on the ground. She died from her injuries seven days later.

Mr White, now aged 34, pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter over her death when his trial began in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday (11 November) and when it continued on Tuesday (12 November), footage of the incident was screened to the court.

The footage shows Mr White, another police officer, paramedics and staff arrived to find Ms Nowland sitting in a chair in a small office at around 5 am that morning, her mobility walker in front of her and a knife in her hand.

The second police officer repeatedly asked for her to put down the knife, and she was also told to stay in the chair and not stand up.

“It’s a bit sharp,” someone said.

However, Ms Nowland slowly stood up with the knife in her hand.

“Actually, would it be an idea to get her out and you can just grab the knife off her?” Mr White said.

Ms Nowland raised the knife towards those outside the doorway and used her walker to slowly move towards them.

“No, we’re not playing this game, Clare. You’ve got to put that down,” Mr White said.

“You see this? This is a taser.

“Clare, drop it. This is your first warning.”

He pointed his taser at her and activated it, which meant it emitted a buzzing noise, then told her, “You keep coming, you’re going to get tased”.

However, when she continued walking towards them and raised the knife towards them again, Mr White said, “Nah, bugger it”, and fired his taser at her.

Ms Nowland was seen clutching at where it struck her in her torso before toppling over backwards, knocking over her mobility walker.

“Got her,” Mr White said.

The police and paramedics rushed to Ms Nowland’s side as she lay on the ground.

“Clare, come on. You’re alright. Talk to us, Clare,” Mr White said.

“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” the second police officer said while they crouched around Ms Nowland.

“I was thinking I could just grab it. It was a bit too sharp and pointed at me.”

Jurors previously heard that earlier on the morning of 17 May 2023, Ms Nowland had been going into the rooms of several nursing home residents while carrying two knives.

Staff tried to persuade her to drop the knives, without success, although she eventually tried to throw one of them towards a carer but missed.

As a result, a nurse called Triple Zero to ask for help from paramedics.

“We just have a very aggressive resident and she’s going into different rooms,” the nurse told the operator.

The nurse told the operator that Ms Nowland, described as a dementia patient, had knives she’d picked up from the kitchen and was raising them against staff.

The court later heard she had been suffering from symptoms consistent with dementia, even though she didn’t have a formal diagnosis.

As a knife was involved in the incident that morning, the Triple Zero operator also arranged for police to attend.

Mr White, the second police officer, and paramedics arrived to find Ms Nowland in the office at around 5 am. The body-worn and security camera footage then captured the tasering.

The forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy told jurors that the cause of death for Ms Nowland, who weighed about 47 kg, was blunt force trauma to the head with complications.

On Monday, defence barrister Troy Edwards SC said it was not disputed that the tasering ultimately led to Ms Nowland’s death seven days later.

However, he said it was his client’s sworn duty as a police officer to stop the threat and counter the risk Ms Nowland posed to herself and others due to her possession of the knife.

The jury trial is expected to run for about two to three weeks before Justice Ian Harrison.