<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>334136</docID> <postdate>2024-11-27 12:42:11</postdate> <headline>Great-gran tasering cop convicted of manslaughter</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-334137" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241126144415235609-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Kristian White has been found guilty of manslaughter. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Miklos Bolza</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A police officer who fatally tasered a 95-year-old with dementia symptoms could face a lengthy stint in jail after a jury found him guilty of her unlawful killing.</strong></p> <p>Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White discharged his stun gun at Clare Nowland in a treatment room at Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma during the early hours of May 17, 2023.</p> <p>In video footage played at his NSW Supreme Court trial, the 34-year-old officer was heard saying "nah, bugger it" before shooting the great-grandmother in the torso.</p> <p>Mrs Nowland, who was holding a steak knife at the time, fell backwards and hit her head before dying a week later in hospital.</p> <p>After hearing evidence and submissions over the eight-day trial, the 12-person jury returned with a guilty verdict of manslaughter on Wednesday.</p> <p>They had been deliberating for 20 hours.</p> <p>Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC successfully argued White was criminally negligent or conducted an unlawful and dangerous act by firing the Taser in a move which was "utterly unnecessary".</p> <p>In reaching its verdict, the jury rejected arguments by defence counsel Troy Edwards SC that the 34-year-old officer's use of the Taser was a proportionate response to the threat that Mrs Nowland posed.</p> </body>