An elderly woman’s harrowing final moments before a police officer killed her with a Taser have been shown to a court.
Police constable Kristian James Samuel White fired his stun gun at great-grandmother Clare Nowland at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home 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.
Ms Nowland’s level of dementia meant she would not have been able to comply with commands shouted at her by a police officer before she was Tasered to death, a court was told.
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.
The court today published a security view of the moments before the Taser in Nowland.
The video shows Nowland with his walker in a hallway exiting the shot as emergency responders gather in a separate hallway leading to the kitchen area.
White leads the group away before Nowland leaves the room.
Geriatrician Susan Kurrle told jurors she diagnosed Nowland with moderate to moderately severe dementia at the time the Taser was used.
Footage released by the court shows Clare Nowland with her walker before leaving the room (pictured).
Police officer Kristian James Samuel White can be seen in the nursing home footage (pictured)
Although she could still move around thanks to 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.
In a video played yesterday, White could be seen shouting orders at Nowland as he shuffled forward while grabbing a steak knife and his walker from one of the facility’s treatment rooms.
“If you keep coming, they’ll Taser you,” the officer told him before firing.
Kurrle said Nowland’s behavior had escalated in the three months before his 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.”
Great-grandmother Clare Nowland, 95, (pictured) hit her head after being Tasered and died a week later in hospital.
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 assistance from staff, he heard. the jury
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.
After the incident, they treated her with a rosary and tea.
Under cross-examination by defense barrister Troy Edwards SC, Kurrle admitted Nowland’s behavior in the moments before he was Tasered could have been a result of staff deciding to reduce the dose of Risperdal two days earlier.
Police officer Kristian James Samuel White arrived at court today with his wife (pictured)
Registered nurse Caroline Baker worked at Yallambee Lodge for just over two weeks and was on duty when White was called to the nursing home.
He tried to get Nowland out of three other residents’ rooms at around 3am on the day of the incident after the great-grandmother grabbed two steak knives and a jar of prunes from the kitchen, the court was told.
Baker said nothing unusual had been mentioned about the 95-year-old woman at the time of the handover when she began her shift.
The trial continues.