95-year-old Clare Nowland, who was living with dementia, had entered the rooms of three residents at Snowy Monaro Regional Council’s 40-bed Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, holding two kitchen knives when NSW Police were called to assist in the early hours of 17 May.
With the assistance of a four-wheel walking frame, the woman weighing 43kg was seen leaning over their beds at 3am while holding the knives, documents released by NSW Supreme Court yesterday state.
As nursing home staff tried to contact her family, NSW Police allege Clare threw a knife at one of the carers, which landed on the floor. The staff called NSW Ambulance as they surmised Clare would likely need to be sedated. Cooma Police was also called because the great-grandmother had two knives in her possession.
Senior constable Kristian White and an unnamed female colleague were pulled from their beds and “recalled for duty”. They arrived just before 5am.
Clare had been locked in another resident’s room for more than 20 minutes as staff waited for emergency services to arrive. She managed to get out of the room through a back exit when paramedics arrived at 4.38am. When she was found, Clare was still holding a knife and refused to put it down and pointed it at a carer, according to NSW Police.
When the officers arrived Clare was still missing. The officers had brought a Taser 7 conducted electrical weapon with them and Clare was found sitting on a chair inside a small office inside Yallambee Lodge.
Police allege a paramedic asked Clare to drop the knife and she responded by placing the torch on the desk in front of her, getting up with the help of the walking frame.
According to the police statement of facts tendered to the court, when the female police officer reached forward to take the knife out of Clare’s hand, she took her hand off the walker and pointed the knife at the officer.
Clare walked slowly towards the doorway and again pointed the knife in the policewoman’s direction. It was then the male police officer activated the Taser’s warning device and pointed it at the chest of the 43kg woman.
After being told to drop the knife and given a first verbal warning, an audio and visual warning was displayed from the Taser.
“See you are going to get Tasered,” Senior Constable Kristian White allegedly said to Clare. Police then allege she continued to move towards the officers, and again raised her knife at the female officer.
Snr Cons White allegedly then said to Clare: “Stop just … na bugger it” and deployed his Taser into Clare’s chest, causing her to fall backwards, striking “her head heavily on the wooden floor” of the nursing home. She died in hospital on 24 May.
Snr Cons White was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault against the elderly woman.
