UPDATE: Clare Nowland family says decision to dismiss Kristian White from police force is 'too little, too late'

UPDATE, 6 pm: The family of Clare Nowland, the 95-year-old who was tasered by a police officer, says the officer’s termination from the police force is “too little, too late”.

Sam Tierney from Ken Cush & Associates, who represents Ms Nowland’s family, said the NSW Police Commissioner had announced that former Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White’s “ongoing employment has finally been terminated” on Tuesday (3 December).

“The Nowland family consider the decision to be too little, too late where the commissioner has had full access to all materials on which the jury last week found Mr White guilty of the unlawful killing of Clare for over 12 months and chose to take no action,” he said.

TUESDAY, 4:30 pm: The ex-police officer who fired a taser at 95-year-old Clare Nowland, resulting in her death, has been dismissed from the police force.

Former Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White had been suspended from duty with pay in late May 2023, several days after the tasering.

He fought a charge of manslaughter laid over Ms Nowland’s death at a NSW Supreme Court trial that ended with a guilty verdict late last month.

Late last week, NSW Police issued a statement saying that due to the jury’s guilty verdict, he had been suspended from the police force without pay.

Then on Tuesday (3 December), it was announced the 34-year-old had been dismissed from the police force.

“Today, I have determined that I do not have confidence in the officer’s suitability to continue as a police officer, in line with the procedure mandated under the Police Act 1990 section 181D,” NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.

“Accordingly, I have removed him from the NSW Police Force and he has been advised via his legal counsel.

“I have spoken with the family of the 95-year-old victim involved in this matter and advised them of my decision.”

On 17 May 2023, Ms Nowland was holding a steak knife in a small room at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, NSW, while she used her mobility frame to slowly walk towards police officers, paramedics and staff standing in the corridor outside the room.

She did not drop the knife or stop moving when the officers repeatedly told her to, then was tasered by White.

The great-grandmother fell over, hit her head on the ground and died from her injuries seven days later.

On Friday (29 November), a judge refused to send White to jail ahead of his sentencing.

He remains on bail ahead of his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for 7 February 2025.

Original Article published by Albert McKnight on About Regional.