The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the manslaughter trial of a NSW police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman in an aged care facility.
Senior Constable Kristian White, 34, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Clare Nowland, who he tasered at the Yallambee Lodge in Cooma on May 17, 2023.
The great-grandmother, who suffered symptoms of dementia, was found using a walker and holding a knife before she was tasered.
She fell and hit her head, sustaining injuries equivalent to blunt force trauma and dying in Cooma Hospital a week later from an inoperable brain bleed.
Clare Nowland died in hospital a week after a police officer tasered her in a Cooma aged care facility. (ABC News)
On day eight of the trial, Justice Ian Harrison told the 12-person jury some elements of the case were not in dispute.
He said Senior Constable White did not deny deploying the taser, but did deny the allegation that his actions were unlawful in his role as a police officer.
"There's no dispute that Mrs Nowland died from the injuries she received … when she fell and struck her head after being tasered," Justice Harrison said.
The trial is taking place in Sydney, where the Crown alleged Mr White breached a duty of care and committed manslaughter by way of criminal negligence or by committing an unlawful or dangerous act.
The defence has argued that Senior Constable White's actions were not disproportionate to the threat Mrs Nowland posed, and were a necessary use of force to prevent a "breach of the peace".
Kristian White pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)
Closing statements were delivered yesterday, in which Defence barrister Troy Edwards SC argued the police officer made efforts to negotiate with Mrs Nowland verbally prior to tasering her.
"The times the accused tries to persuade Mrs Nowland to put down the knife, most of those occur after he's already raised the taser toward her," Mr Edwards told the court on Tuesday.
"[Senior Constable White] hadn't given up even at that stage."
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC suggested to the jury that the accused had become "fed up" or "impatient" by the incident, highlighting the fact he said the words "bugger it" before deploying the taser.
The defence responded, citing Senior Constable White's multiple attempts to de-escalate the situation.
"Is that somebody that had those attributes? Or is doing their very best, who is showing restraint as best they can but had finally run out of options?" Mr Edwards said.
Four weeks had been set aside for the trial, but the evidence presented by both the prosecution and defence took just seven days to hear.