<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>334209</docID> <postdate>2024-11-28 14:33:51</postdate> <headline>Jail options weighed after cop’s manslaughter verdict</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 used his Taser to unlawfully kill a 95-year-old woman did not intend to cause serious injury and was not motivated by emotions such as passion or revenge, a judge says.</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, dying a week later in hospital.</p> <p>On Thursday, Justice Ian Harrison heard an application by crown prosecutors that White be placed behind bars one day after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter.</p> <p>He noted he had not come across a similar case during his 18 years as a Supreme Court judge.</p> <p>"Most cases that come to me in the criminal sphere involve the commission of offences that are associated with some form of intent," Justice Harrison said.</p> <p>"That intent is nearly always coupled with one or other of emotions such as greed or punishment or revenge or passion."</p> <p>White's actions came because he failed to consider the realities of what was going on at the time, the judge said.</p> <p>"They weren't associated with an intention to cause harm or serious injury, even though that was the outcome," Justice Harrison said.</p> <p>Defence barrister Troy Edwards SC argued a jail sentence for White was not inevitable.</p> <p>"A sentence of full-time imprisonment is not a certainty as a consequence of the nature of the type of charge," he said.</p> <p>White met the criteria for the discharge of the Taser, which meant the objective seriousness of the offence was at the lower end, Mr Edwards said.</p> <p>Mr Edwards acknowledged the officer did not consider the exceptional circumstances test, which dictated when a Taser could be fired by police at certain groups such as the elderly or disabled.</p> <p>He said White was only told of this rule on one slide during training completed several years before the incident.</p> <p>Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC said the jury, through its verdict, had found White's use of force was not reasonably necessary.</p> <p>"And having regard to the nature of the offence that a full-time custodial sentence is realistically inevitable," he said.</p> <p>Justice Harrison will hand down his decision on Friday, telling the court he did not want to rush his judgment.</p> <p>"These are weighty matters and I want to consider them in detail," he said.</p> <p>Earlier on Thursday, 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>A sentence hearing is expected to be held in February.</p> <p>The charge of manslaughter carries a maximum jail term of 25 years.</p> </body>