A registered nurse who was working the night shift at a nursing home when a police officer shot a resident with a Taser said she was “very, very concerned” when the weapon was used on the woman.
Police Constable Kristian James Samuel White fired his stun gun at great-grandmother Clare Nowland at Yallambee Lodge in the southern New South Wales town of Cooma in the early hours of May 17, 2023.
The 95-year-old woman hit her head on the ground when she fell and suffered an inoperable brain haemorrhage, dying in Cooma Hospital a week later.
White, who says he acted lawfully in the performance of his duties as a police officer, returned to his trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Registered nurse Rosaline Baker had been working at the nursing home for just over two weeks when she called triple zero regarding Ms Nowland.
He said he had previously tried to get Mrs Nowland out of three other residents’ rooms at around 3am after the great-grandmother grabbed two steak knives and a jar of prunes from the kitchen.
White and Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank arrived at the scene after two paramedics.
Police officer Kristian James Samuel White faced the NSW Supreme Court on trial for Tasering a 95-year-old woman who died after suffering an inoperable brain bleed.
Clare Nowland, 95, died a week later after she was shot with a Taser at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home.
They searched for the great-grandmother with Mrs. Baker and found her in a treatment room.
When the 34-year-old police officer pulled out his Taser, the nurse said she didn’t know what it was and was “a little curious.”
“In my years of experience as a nurse, almost 50 years, I have never seen anything like this,” she told the court.
He then heard a loud noise and saw Mrs Nowland being beaten.
“I was very, very worried when she fell to the ground,” Mrs Baker said.
In a video played Tuesday, White could be seen shouting orders at Mrs. Nowland as he shuffled forward while grabbing a steak knife and his walker from a treatment room.
“If you keep coming, they’re going to shoot you,” the officer told him before shooting.
Ms Baker described her feelings that same night when Ms Nowland pulled a knife on her in the dark hallways of the nursing home.
—Were you scared or worried when they pointed that knife at you? asked crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC.
“No, I was worried about her wandering around other places and other rooms, that something might happen to other residents,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, geriatrician Susan Kurrle told jurors that she diagnosed Mrs. Nowland with moderate to moderately severe dementia at the time she was Tasered.
While still moving on her four-wheeled walker, the 95-year-old woman would not have been able to understand what was happening around her or follow instructions, she said.
Professor Kurrle said Mrs Nowland’s behavior had escalated in the three months before her death.
“She constantly resisted any changes or anything they asked her to do and didn’t seem to understand,” the expert said.
“In retrospect, it is very clear that the symptoms and signs developed during that time.”
Registered nurse Rosaline Baker told the court she was “very, very concerned” when White used the Taser on Ms Nowland.
Body camera footage showed police handcuffing Ms Nowland after she was Tasered and fell to the ground, hitting her head.
Mrs Nowland exhibited anti-social behavior in early 2023, including taking food from residents, attempting to undress in social areas, disturbing residents in their rooms, wandering in the cold and dark and refusing to accept help from staff. , the jury heard.
The court viewed CCTV footage of three incidents at Yallambee Lodge in March and April 2023, when the 95-year-old woman physically attacked, rammed a member of staff with her walker, climbed an embankment and became trapped in a tree.
He was admitted to hospital on April 16 and was prescribed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal to calm his aggressive behavior after hitting and biting staff.
Under cross-examination by defense counsel Troy Edwards SC, Professor Kurrle admitted that Ms Nowland’s behavior in the moments before she was Tasered could have been a result of staff deciding to reduce her dose of Risperdal two days earlier. .
The trial continues Thursday.