<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>334209</docID> <postdate>2024-11-28 12:03:51</postdate> <headline>Taser cop suspended without pay</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-332821" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241111143248905247-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Senior Constable Kristian White is accused of manslaughter over the tasering of an elderly woman. (Steve Markham/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Miklos Bolza</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A police officer who unlawfully killed an aged-care resident with dementia by shooting her with a Taser has been suspended without pay after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter.</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, fell backwards and hit her head before dying a week later in hospital.</p> <p>On Thursday, Justice Ian Harrison will hear an application by crown prosecutors to place White behind bars ahead of his sentence.</p> <p>Before the application, NSW Police confirmed the senior constable had been notified he had been suspended without pay after Wednesday's verdict.</p> <p>Police Commissioner Karen Webb was also in the process of going through procedures set out under legislation to remove White from the force.</p> <p>They include giving him at least 21 days to make submissions in response to the planned action.</p> <p>There were gasps in the courtroom when the jury delivered its guilty verdict after  20 hours of deliberations.</p> <p>Prosecutors immediately sought to detain the 34-year-old after his conviction, but Justice Harrison postponed the hearing for a day.</p> <p>The judge said he would need evidence about the conditions White would face in prison given he was a police officer.</p> <p>Officers are typically housed away from other inmates as they can be targets for other criminals behind bars.</p> <p>Defence barrister Troy Edwards SC earlier argued a jail sentence was not inevitable for White, given the wide range of possible punishments for manslaughter.</p> <p>The charge carries a maximum jail term of 25 years.</p> </body>