Kristian White (left) was found guilty of causing the death of Clare Nowland. Photo: Gail Eastway.
The ex-police officer who avoided being jailed for causing the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland has dropped his attempt to review the decision to fire him from the police force.
Kristian James Samuel White tasered Ms Nowland in Cooma in 2023 while she held a knife and had been slowly walking towards him using her walking frame.
She later died from her injuries.
The former senior constable was found guilty of manslaughter at the end of his NSW Supreme Court trial before he was dismissed from the police force.
He started to seek a review of this decision to dismiss him by apparently claiming it was “harsh, unreasonable or unjust”.
But this week, a NSW Supreme Court spokesperson said the Industrial Relations Commission had received a notice of discontinuance in the matter.
This meant the hearing, which had been scheduled for this week, was vacated and the matter was closed.
“NSW Police have been advised a former officer who was attached to Monaro PD has discontinued proceedings in the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW,” a NSW Police spokesperson said when contacted about the development.
Clare Nowland died after she was tasered in 2023. Photo: Supplied.
White was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order on his manslaughter charge, which is a community-based sentence.
An attempt by NSW’s top prosecutor to appeal this sentence was dismissed last month.
Ms Nowland, who suffered from symptoms consistent with dementia, was carrying two knives while going into other residents’ rooms at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, NSW, on 17 May 2023, resulting in staff calling Triple Zero for assistance.
She was eventually found in a small room, holding a steak knife while she used her mobility frame to slowly walk towards police officers, paramedics and staff standing in the corridor outside the room.
She did not drop the knife or stop moving when the officers repeatedly told her to, then was tasered by White while he stood about two metres away from her outside the room’s doorway.
He had the taser pointed at her for one minute before saying, “Nah, bugger it”, and firing.
She fell over, hit her head on the ground and died from her injuries seven days later.
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