An Australian police officer was found guilty this Wednesday, November 27, of manslaughter after tasing a 95-year-old woman in a retirement home.
The tragedy occurred during an impressive attack of dementia. A year and a half after the death by taser electrocution of Clare Nowland, a 95-year-old Australian and resident of the Yallambee retirement home in Cooma (New South Wales), a police officer has been convicted of murder.
The facts date back to May 17, 2023. That day, in the midst of a dementia crisis, the nonagenarian began to threaten the medical team with a large meat knife. Among the police officers who struggled to contain the situation, one of them, Kristian White, tased Clare Nowland, who lost consciousness. She died ten days later from her injuries.
Considering the circumstances and the age of the victim, the Supreme Court of New South Wales found Kristian White guilty of manslaughter this Wednesday, November 27, report CNN et The Guardian.
A “violent confrontation was imminent”
It was 5 a.m. on May 17, 2023, when Clare Nowland left her room to meet the medical staff at the retirement home.
In CCTV footage released by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the elderly woman can be seen in the empty corridors of the facility, leaning on her walker and wearing pink pajamas.
Visibly haggard, the nonagenarian moves slowly and seems to be looking for an interlocutor. A few minutes later, she walked through the door of the caregivers’ office. In his hands: a large kitchen knife.
Unable to handle the situation alone, the employees of the retirement home decided to contact the police, who arrived on the scene quickly. Then begins a violent exchange between Clare Nowland and Kristian White; a discussion which ends in threats from the police officer.
After telling him to put the knife down, in vain, Kristian White discharges his taser. In court, the latter explained that he had the impression that the armed old woman was going to attack him, that a “violent confrontation was imminent”.
A proportionate use of force?
According to prosecutor Brett Hatfield, Kristian White’s act raises the question: how can such use of force be justified against an old lady suffering from dementia?
“This was not a simple breach of the standard of care. This was such an unnecessary and manifestly excessive use of force on Ms. Nowland that it warrants punishment for involuntary manslaughter,” he said. he declared during the hearing, as reported by CNN.
For the Australian magistrate, Clare Nowland was particularly vulnerable and her condition required medical treatment, not violent confrontation. An opinion shared by Sam Tierney, the lawyer for the family of the deceased old woman.
“It will take some time for the family to accept the jury’s confirmation that Clare’s death at the hands of a serving NSW police officer was a criminal and wrongful act. The family would like to thank the judge and jury for “have carefully examined the matter”, confides Sam Tierney to The Guardian.
The day after the incident which cost the life of Clare Nowland, Kristian White was suspended from the police force.
