<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>341280</docID> <postdate>2025-03-28 14:46:08</postdate> <headline>‘Slap on the wrist’: grandma-killing cop spared jail</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-341281" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250207123732467280-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Former senior constable Kristian White is set to hear whether he'll be jailed for manslaughter. (Steve Markham/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <div class="wire-column__preview__text" id="preview-body"> <div class="wire-column__preview__text" id="preview-body"> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Miklos Bolza </b>and<b> Rachel Jackson</b> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A judge's decision to spare a police officer jail for killing a frail, confused elderly woman with a Taser shot has been slammed as a "slap on the wrist" by her tearful family.</strong></p> <p>Former senior constable Kristian James Samuel White walked stone-faced through a scrum of media as he left the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.</p> <p>Minutes earlier, he was given a two-year, good-behaviour bond and ordered to perform community service after killing 95-year-old Clare Nowland in the southern NSW town of Cooma.</p> <p>The 35-year-old fired his Taser at her after being called to the Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the early hours of May 17, 2023.</p> <p>Mrs Nowland's eldest son Michael said her family - many of whom were fighting back tears after White avoided jail - were finding it hard to process the court's decision.</p> <p>"Obviously, it was very disappointing," he said.</p> <p>"A slap on the wrist for someone who's killed our mother - it's very, very hard to process that."</p> <p>All the family wanted was justice and fairness, Mr Nowland said.</p> <p>In handing down his decision, Justice Ian Harrison found White made a "terrible mistake" but his crime fell at the lower end of seriousness compared to other manslaughter cases.</p> <p>The use of the stun gun after a few minutes of trying to disarm Mrs Nowland was unlawful, dangerous and resulted from White either misreading or misunderstanding the situation, the judge said.</p> <p>"A frail and confused 95-year-old woman in fact posed nothing that could reasonably be described as a threat of any substance," he told the packed courtroom.</p> <p>Mrs Nowland was holding a knife while using a walking frame and had been ignoring attempts by staff to disarm her before she was shot with the weapon.</p> <p>The officer said "nah, bugger it" before firing the Taser's barbs at her chest, causing her to fall and strike her head.</p> <p>The great-grandmother suffered a bleed on the brain and died in hospital a week later.</p> <p>Justice Harrison said Mrs Nowland's death was a serious event, acknowledging the grief and anger her family felt while struggling to cope with the enormity of her passing.</p> <p>"The complete and utter frustration and despair exhibited by her family in the circumstances is easy to understand when things could have so easily been handled better," he said.</p> <p>However, White was only caught up in the incident as a police officer who had been lawfully called to the care facility, the judge said.</p> <p>"He was required to resolve the situation ... and could not have chosen to do nothing," he said.</p> <p>White stood expressionless as his sentence was handed down and did not say anything to reporters outside court before he was bundled into a car and driven off.</p> <p>He will have to perform 425 hours of community service as part of his two-year community corrections order.</p> <p>In a letter to Mrs Nowland's family provided to the court, White expressed his regret.</p> <p>"I take full responsibility for my actions - I felt and still feel horrible for what happened," he wrote.</p> <p>"I do not expect you to take my apology as a request for forgiveness and I understand that you suffer greatly."</p> <p>Both White and the Director of Public Prosecutions could appeal the sentence, while the former officer has scope to challenge the jury's guilty verdict.</p> <p>The 35-year-old has since been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic-stress disorder and will have to move from the small town of Cooma because of the anger against him in the community.</p> <p>White was removed from the force in December after the guilty verdict, but he has launched legal action for a review of that decision.</p> <p>UNSW criminology expert Helen Gibbon said it was very rare for Australian police officers to face prosecution or conviction for killing a person in the line of duty.</p> <p>A willingness from agencies such as the DPP to prosecute and juries to convict police officers was historically lacking, the associate professor told AAP.</p> </div> </div> </body>