November 14th 2024.
According to a paramedic who testified in court, an elderly woman who was Tasered by police displayed some concerning medical signs as she was taken out of her aged-care facility. The incident took place at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, a town in southern New South Wales, in the early hours of May 17, 2023. It was Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White who used his stun gun on 95-year-old Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who was later pronounced dead at Cooma Hospital after a week.
On that fateful day, paramedics Anna Hofner and Kingsley Newman were called to the scene at around 4am, after the on-duty nurse reported to emergency services that the elderly woman was acting aggressively and wielding two knives. They were present when White fired the Taser at Nowland, who was showing signs of dementia, causing her to collapse in the facility's treatment room. The paramedics then rushed her to the ambulance with sirens and lights, and took her to the hospital, where she eventually passed away.
During the manslaughter trial of the 34-year-old police officer at the New South Wales Supreme Court, one of the paramedics, Kingsley Newman, told the jury about the concerning and unusual medical signs that Nowland displayed even as she was being loaded into the ambulance. He mentioned a large bruise-like mark, known as a haematoma, which was about five or six centimetres in size. He also noticed that her face showed signs of internal injury, with facial drooping on the side opposite to the injury, indicating a serious brain bleed.
After the incident, White's partner, Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank, radioed the Cooma police station and reported that Nowland had a small lump on her head, but the paramedics were managing it. However, Sergeant Pank has not been charged in this case and is expected to testify at White's trial. Another paramedic, Anna Hofner, also took the stand and shared her experience with the court. She recalled stepping back from Nowland when the elderly woman stood up and walked towards the door of the treatment room, holding a knife. Hofner believed that she was in danger of getting stabbed if Nowland decided to strike out with the knife.
However, under cross-examination by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, Hofner admitted that she was actually at a safe distance and was not in any danger of being stabbed. Hatfield also suggested that the situation could have been resolved peacefully if they had given Nowland more time. But Hofner questioned how long they would have to wait, given Nowland's refusal to let go of the knife. The jury heard that it was only three minutes after the group found Nowland in the treatment room that White used his Taser on her.
White, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge of manslaughter, claims that he acted lawfully under his duties as a police officer. The court also heard from two assistant nurses, Mamta Rai and Geeta Phuyal, who were working on the night of the incident. They both tried unsuccessfully to persuade Nowland to drop the weapons, with Rai revealing that the great-grandmother even threw one of the knives at her, although it didn't hit her directly. The trial is ongoing and will continue to hear evidence from witnesses.
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
[Generative AI is experimental.]
