An officer who fatally tasered a 95-year-old nursing home resident was not trained at the police academy on the “exceptional circumstances” when a Taser should not be deployed, his manslaughter trial has heard.
Sen Const Kristian James Samuel White is on trial after Clare Nowland died in May 2023 after being tasered. White has pleaded not guilty.
Sen Sgt William Watt – who is employed by New South Wales police to train officers on firearms, defence and tactics, and the use of force – appeared as a witness on Friday.
Watt told the NSW supreme court that officers were advised Tasers should not be used in “exceptional circumstances” including against a person who was handcuffed, a woman suspected of being pregnant, “elderly or disabled persons” and children or a “person with small body mass”.
Under cross-examination by White’s barrister, Troy Edwards SC, Watt revealed that exceptional circumstances were not part of the training program when White was at the police academy.
Nor was information on the “special circumstances” police were meant to consider when determining whether or not to fire a Taser.
So-called special circumstances include considering if someone has a disability or mental health condition – factors which Watt said could escalate a situation.
Watt said information on special circumstances was added to student officer’s training at a later date, following reviews and recommendations by oversight bodies.
White tasered Nowland – who moved with the aid of a walking frame and weighed 47.5kg – in a Snowy Mountains nursing home in May 2023 after repeated requests for her to put down a steak knife.
The great-grandmother had been carrying the serrated knife in one hand and was supporting herself on her walker with the other hand when White discharged the Taser to disarm her.
Nowland died a week later from a head injury caused by being tasered, the court has heard.
Edwards has told the court it is not in dispute that the injuries caused by White tasering Nowland ultimately killed her. But he argued that White’s use of the Taser involved a reasonable use of force.
The prosecutor, Brett Hatfield SC, has argued that White was guilty of manslaughter by way of criminal negligence or by way of an unlawful and dangerous act.
On Friday, the court also heard from Sgt Jarrod Dawson, who was on duty at Cooma police station the morning after the incident.
He recounted in court a conversation he had had with White after the tasering, which Dawson recorded in the police database.
Dawson reported that White said to him after the incident: “I’ve had a look and, supposedly, we aren’t meant to tase elderly people but, in the circumstance, I needed to.”
“Maybe this will be my first critical incident,” White said according to Dawson’s report. “Maybe,” Dawson responded.
Prior to Dawson appearing as a witness, Watt gave evidence that police were trained to see a person armed with a knife as a “significant threat”.
“In close quarters, knives are every bit as dangerous as a firearm,” he told the court on Friday, adding that a knife attack was “extremely difficult to defend against”.
“Police are taught techniques to defend agaisnt attack with a knife, but they are a tool of last resort.”
Watt said “NSW police does not train that a knife [being wielded by a person] would automatically result in the use of a firearm, rather police would be expected to select an appropriate tactical option based on the situation”.
“Using a Taser against a subject carrying a knife is generally considered a suitable option,” Watt told the court. “It often provides an effective and relatively safe way of gaining control of a situation.”
Hatfield, while questioning Watt, had pointed to specific warnings in training materials about the use of Tasers, and noted additional risk factors when using them on “pregnant women, children, the frail or infirm”.
