A registered nurse who worked the night shift at a care home when police fired a Taser at a resident said she was ‘very, very worried’ when the weapon was used on the woman.
Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White shot great-grandmother Clare Nowland with a stun gun at Yallambee Lodge in the south. NSW Kuma Village in the early hours of May 17, 2023.
The 95-year-old fell and hit his head on the ground, suffered an inoperable brain haemorrhage and died a week later at Cooma Hospital.
White, who said he acted lawfully and in accordance with his duties as a police officer, returned to NSW. supreme court Trial on Wednesday.
Registered nurse Rosaline Baker had been working at the aged care home for just over two weeks when she called Triple Zero about Mrs Nowland.
She previously said the great-grandmother tried to get Mr Nowland out of the room with three other people around 3am after she grabbed two steak knives and a jar of plums from the kitchen.
White and Sergeant Jessica Pank arrived on scene, followed by two paramedics.
Police officer Kristian James Samuel White has appeared in the NSW Supreme Court accused of firing a Taser at a 95-year-old woman who died from an inoperable brain haemorrhage.
Clare Nowland, 95, died a week after being tasered at Yallambee Lodge care home.
They searched for my great-grandmother along with Mr. Baker, and found her in the treatment room.
When the 34-year-old senior police officer pulled out a Taser, the nurse said she had no idea what it was and was ‘kind of curious’.
“I have never seen anything like that in almost 50 years as a nurse,” she told the court.
She heard a loud bang and saw Mrs. Nowland hit.
“I was very worried when she hit the ground,” Mr Baker said.
In footage played on Tuesday, White could be seen screaming commands at Mrs Nowland, who was dragging her forwards inside the treatment room, clutching a steak knife and a walker.
‘If you keep coming, you’re going to get a Taser,’ the officer said before being fired.
Ms Baker described her feelings that night when Mr Nowland raised a knife at her in a dark hallway at the nursing home.
‘Were you scared or worried when that knife was pointed at you?’ Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC asked.
‘No, I was worried about her wandering around to different places or different rooms. ‘I thought something might happen to other residents,’ she said.
On Wednesday morning, geriatrician Susan Kurrle told jurors that Mrs Nowland was diagnosed as suffering from moderate to severe dementia at the time she received the Taser.
The 95-year-old would not have been able to understand what was happening around him or follow directions while still traveling on a four-wheeled walker, she said.
Professor Kurrle said Mrs Nowland’s behavior had worsened in the three months before her death.
“She was constantly resistant to any changes or anything they asked of her and she just didn’t seem to understand,” the expert said.
‘Looking back, it’s very clear that the symptoms and signs developed over that time.’
Nurse Rosalyn Baker told the court she was ‘very worried’ when White used a Taser on Nowland.
Body camera footage shows Nowland being hit with a Taser, falling to the ground and hitting his head before police handcuff him.
The jury found Mrs Nowland engaged in anti-social behavior in early 2023, including taking residents’ food, attempting to undress in social areas, disturbing residents in their rooms, wandering around in cold, dark areas and refusing help from staff. It was ruled that it was visible.
The court played CCTV footage of three incidents that occurred at Yalambi Lodge in March and April 2023, when a 95-year-old physically assaulted a member of staff, hit him with a walker, climbed onto an embankment and fell into a tree. I’m trapped.
She was admitted to hospital on April 16 and prescribed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal to calm her aggressive behavior after she punched and bit a member of staff.
Under questioning by barrister Troy Edwards SC, Professor Kurrle accepted that Mrs Nowland’s actions before she was tasered may have been the result of the staff member’s decision to reduce her dose of Risperdal two days earlier.
The trial continues Thursday.
