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A police officer described the fear he felt when he saw a “wave of darkness” cover the face of a 95-year-old woman holding a knife before she was killed with a Taser.
Clare Nowland died from injuries sustained when police officer Kristian White discharged his Taser into her chest at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma on May 17.
The police officer faces trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to manslaughter over the death of his great-grandmother.
The Crown alleges that he breached his duty of care to Ms Nowland and caused her unlawful death by criminal negligence or a dangerous act.
The 34-year-old does not deny that he deployed his weapon and caused Mrs Nowland’s death, but his lawyers maintain it was a proportionate reaction to the risk she posed by holding a knife.
On Thursday, Officer White’s colleague, Jessica Pank, recalled trying to contain the situation by removing the knife from Ms. Nowland’s hand and blocking her exit from a room.
“I remember her holding the knife up and making stabbing motions towards me while I was doing that,” he said.
Footage shows the 95-year-old woman held a knife in one hand but kept both hands on a four-wheeled walker as she moved slowly toward the door.
Senior Constable Jessica Pank (pictured) was Constable White’s supervisor on the day Clare Nowland was Tasered.
When Officer Pank attempted to approach Mrs Nowland to grab the knife, the footage shows the great-grandmother stopping her progress and raising the weapon.
“I remember at that point I was afraid for my physical safety and I tried to grab the knife because it seemed very sharp and his eyes were dark,” Officer Pank said.
“When I got closer, it was this wave of darkness that came over her face that made me a little afraid to be close to her to see that, yes, a wave of fear.”
He agreed that he could easily back away to avoid danger due to Mrs Nowland’s slow movements and mobility problems.
At the time of the incident, she was acting sergeant and Officer White’s superior officer.
In a statement after the Taser incident, he explained that he believed they had both “done the best we could in the situation.”
She was asked if she, as a supervisor and with the training she had, thought it was appropriate for Officer White to fire his Taser at Ms. Nowland.
“I was comfortable with the situation,” Agent Pank confirmed in part of the statement read in court. However, she clarified that she was not happy with that.
The jury heard Mrs Nowland had symptoms of dementia and weighed just 47.5kg when she was autopsied days later.
PARAMEDICS
Paramedic Anna Hofner said she was also concerned about the great-grandmother’s knife when she tried to convince her to put it down moments before the electric shock.
“She didn’t seem to recognize anything I said,” he said.
Mrs. Nowland stood up with the help of her walker and began to move slowly toward the door, but Mrs. Hofner backed away because “it was too close for my comfort.”
Hofner clarified that that was his fear at the time, but that he could have taken a step back and “at no point” did he feel like he was in immediate danger.
Clare Nowland, 95, died in May last year from fatal injuries she suffered after being hit by a Taser.
The paramedic watched as Constable Pank attempted to grab the knife but backed away after Mrs Nowland “raised the knife towards Jess in a fairly quick motion”.
“I think he was close enough that if he had tried to attack with his knife, he could have hit me,” he said.
Hofner clarified that that was his fear at the time, but that he could have taken a step back and “at no point” did he feel like he was in immediate danger.
The paramedic said Constable White’s colleague, Senior Constable Jessica Pank, tried to grab the knife, but Mrs Nowland “raised the knife towards Jess in a fairly quick motion” so she stepped back.
Ms Hofner told the court she believed the 95-year-old “meant to harm Jess” because “when Clare looked at Jess, she had a look in her eyes like she wanted to attack Jess.”
However, he agreed with Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC that there was “no danger” of any of them being hit by the slowly moving woman who was relying on a walker.
He said Ms Nowland “did not appear to acknowledge” Officer White’s repeated requests that she put down the knife or when she activated the warning arc of her Taser.
NSW Ambulance paramedics Anna Hofner (centre) and Kingsley Newman (left) gave evidence.
In footage previously shown to the court but not made public, the police officer repeatedly asks him to put down the knife and sit down.
When she did not comply, he activated his Taser’s visual and audible warning signals and warned her: “Keep coming, they’re going to shoot you.”
The great-grandmother continued to move forward with both hands on her walker and Officer White said, “Stop, just… No, fuck it,” and discharged the gun.
His colleague Kingsley Newman had been preparing sedative medication to give to Mrs Nowland when he heard the “crack” of the gun.
‘SIGNIFICANT’ INJURIES
Newman later said there was a burn mark on the great-grandmother’s body that mimicked the arc of probes.
He also noticed a nearly 5cm bruise on his head which was “unusual and worrying” because it had developed almost instantly.
The paramedic told the jury that Mrs Nowland “had some facial drooping on the opposite side of the injury, indicating quite significant brain haemorrhage”.
In a statement following the incident, Ms. Hofner stated that she thought “some type of physical action would have had to be taken to remove the knife” from Ms. Nowland.
Two steak knives were seized at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home (pictured) on May 17.
There were holes in the pajamas Clare Nowland was wearing when she was Tasered to death
“Eventually we were going to have to come to some kind of resolution,” he said before saying he “couldn’t foresee” the 95-year-old dropping the knife.
Hofner later admitted that the woman may have relented, telling the jury: “Possibly, but how long would we have to wait?”
KNIVES
The jury heard that Mrs Nowland carried two knives and used a walker to wander around the nursing home after 3am.
He entered the rooms of four of his fellow nursing home residents during that two-hour period and refused to put down the knives when asked.
The court heard the 95-year-old woman had become unusually aggressive in recent months, which a geriatrician told the court could be attributed to her undiagnosed dementia.
In the early hours of May 17, the jury was told Mrs Nowland threw a knife at one of the aged care workers who was trying to remove her from another resident’s room.
Nursing assistant Mamta Rai said she was standing at the door when Mrs Nowland suddenly stood up.
“At that point, Clare stood up and threw a knife at me,” he recalled.
“It landed on the ground, it didn’t hit me directly.”
Ms Rai agreed with Constable White’s lawyer, Troy Edwards SC, that she had felt scared and it was a “very frightening” experience.
She told the jury she had worked in nursing homes for eight years and had never seen a dementia patient with a knife before that night.
“It was quite an unusual experience for me, I had never come across such an experience while working in the aged care industry,” Ms Rai said.
The incident led nurse Rosaline Baker to call triple-0 for help with Mrs Nowland, who she described as “very aggressive” during the call.
An ambulance was sent and the police were notified due to the presence of knives.