An Australian police officer who tased a 95-year-old woman in May 2023 was convicted by a jury Monday of her manslaughter. Kristian White, 34, shot Clare Nowland in her care home in Cooma after the elderly woman "roamed the facility" with a steak knife. White talked to her briefly, but when she did not drop the blade he said "bugger it" and shot her. She fell, struck her head, and later died from her injuries.
Mrs Nowland, who suffered symptoms of dementia, fell and hit her head after she was tasered and died a week later in Cooma Hospital from an inoperable brain bleed.
A 12-person jury delivered its judgement on the fifth day of deliberations in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, finding White guilty of the single charge of manslaughter.
Members of Clare Nowland's family who were in the court bowed their heads in relief and embraced each other when the verdict was read.
Nowland was a dementia patient and required a walking frame to move.
The terms of White's detention will come before the court on Thursday. According to a Sentencing Advisory Council report, the median prison sentence for manslaughter was 9 years, with a range of 3 years to 16 years.
Here's a top New South Wales cop on the conviction: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing."
Previously: "Bugger it": Australian cop tases and kills 95-year-old woman with dementia in her care home
