Tasered great grandmother Clare Nowland's final moments are laid bare in court documents for Kristian White's case: 'See you are going to get Tasered'

• e-mail

Shocking details about 95-year-old Clare Nowland's final moments before she was Tasered and knocked unconscious have been revealed after a judge unsealed police facts in the case.

The NSW Police facts reveal the great grandmother was carrying two kitchen knives and had entered the room of three other residents - an elderly female and two males -  at her nursing home.

The facts show that when staff tried to coax the knives from Ms Nowland, she threw one of them at a staff member.

The accused cop Senior Constable Kristian White picked up a Taser 7 from Cooma Police Station and arrived at at Yallambee Lodge in the state's south at 4.49am on May 17 with his partner, a female sergeant.

At 5.05am, the police located Ms Nowland, arriving in the hallway outside the treatment room with paramedics positioning themselves in the doorway.

Asked to place the knife on the desk, Ms Nowland put a torch on the desk, and began moving forward on her walker while still holding the knife.

The female sergeant entered the room and was about a metre from Ms Nowland, who raised her hand and pointed the knife at the officer, forcing her to retreat backwards.

Ms Nowland then pointed the knife towards the sergeant again. At this time Kristian White initially activated his Taser 7 'towards Ms Nowland's chest area displaying lights and the laser pointer on her person, without deploying the weapon.

A judge has released details of the final moments of 95-year-old Clare Nowland (above) before she was Tasered, hitting her head and never regaining consciousness before dying a week later

Both White and the sergeant instructed Ms Nowland - who was just one to two metres away - to stop.

White then said to her: 'Clare, stop now, see this, this is a Taser, drop it now, drop it, this is your first warning'.

Ms Nowland continues to move forwards and the sergeant says to White 'maybe do the arc, to warning' and White says 'Clare, stop' and activates the Warning Arc - a short visual and audio warning display of the electrical arc of the Taser without deploying the probes.

The facts state that Ms 'Nowland appeared to have little to no reaction to the 'Warning Arc' and continued to move slowly towards the doorway'.

White said: 'See you are going to get Tasered' and 'Clare stop'. Nowland raised her right hand holding the knife to chest height and White then said, 'Na bugger it' and deployed the Taser 7 at Ms Nowland from approximately 1.5m to 2m away with the probes striking her in the chest area.

'Nowland who was still partially gripping onto the walker with her left hand has fallen backwards striking her head heavily on the wooden floor.'

The officers ran forward to apply CPR and found 'a large bump' on Ms Nowland's head. 

Ms Nowland died a week later in Cooma Hospital, sparking global outrage.

She died on the evening of May 24, surrounded by family members among her eight children, 24 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. 

White was charged with three alleged offences of violence for discharging his weapon at the dementia patient as she approached him on her frame with a knife in her hand. 

Clare Nowland’s family released a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying they found the facts alleged in the case ‘extremely confronting and shocking’, and they requested privacy. 

Clare Nowland had wandered from her room at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in the early hours of May 17 when police were called and she was hit with a Taser

The facts were made public by NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones a day after he granted the cop charged with Tasering Ms Nowland bail on strict bail conditions.

'The prosecution will allege that the accused’s actions were a grossly disproportionate response and excessive use of force to the threat posed, considering Ms Clare Nowland’s age and ability,' the police document said.

Justice Beech-Jones delayed the release of the police facts in the case by a day so that Ms Nowland's family had a chance to read them before they are publicly known. 

On Tuesday, His Honour described the charges against the 33-year-old officer as 'undoubtedly serious' but granted permission for the redacted copy of the police facts be released on Wednesday afternoon.

Justice Beech-Jones granted White bail on Tuesday after a hearing in which the officer appeared via Audio Visual Link from an unspecified location as prosecutors made a detention application to have him released on bail on conditions including that he be prohibited from any contact with the late great grandmother's family.

Taser cop Kristian White (above, right) is on unconditional bail charged with three offences of violence over the case of Clare Nowland, 95

Dressed in a suit and tie, Senior Constable White politely answered a brief question before he was ordered to be of good behaviour, to appear in court when required in the future and to not approach Ms Nowland's family or any witnesses in the case.

He has been living freely in the community, on bail with no conditions, since he was charged on the afternoon shortly before Ms Nowland died with with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning bodily harm, and common assault.

He was charged via summons and has remained on unconditional bail, however that is likely to change with prosecutors applying for conditions to be imposed if he is allowed to stay in the community.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb has  been accused of a cover-up after police spin doctors scrubbed publicity about Ms Nowland's alleged assault of any mention of the Tasering, that Nowland had a knife, that it was in a nursing home or that the cop's employment was under review

Suspended police officer Kristian White (above in Cooma last month)is appearing in the NSW Supreme Court as prosecutors apply for his detention or strict bail conditions 

The fresh details in the case come after it was revealed  that Ms Nowland's family is suing the State of NSW over her alleged assault, and filed a civil action on her behalf before her death.

Ms Nowland, a 43kg, 157cm great grandmother with dementia, was Tasered inside a treatment room of the nursing home as she slowly approached Snr. Constable White and a female sergeant.

After Snr. Constable White fired his Taser at her and she fell, Ms Nowland never regained consciousness before she died.

It's alleged the officer Tasered Ms Nowland after asking her to 'stop' several times, then saying 'Oh bugger it' as he deployed the Taser. 

Despite intense public interest in the Tasering of 95-year-old Ms Nowland, Commissioner Webb has consistently refused to view bodycam footage of the incident, which senior police described as 'confronting'. 

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.