Add Category
The lawyers for a NSW police officer accused of tasering a 95-year-old great-grandmother in a Snowy Mountains nursing home have indicated they will seek a judge alone trial.
Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White, 34, did not appear in the NSW Supreme Court when his matters were mentioned on Wednesday.
His legal team told the court they would request a one-day hearing to argue their case for a judge-alone trial.
Crown prosecutors told the court they would oppose the application.
The court also heard Senior Constable White's legal team would not argue that their client acted in self-defence when his matters went to trial, which was set for November.
Clare Nowland — who suffered from dementia — was tasered by Senior Constable White while on duty at the Yallambee Lodge aged care centre in Cooma on May 17, 2023.
Police were called to the centre in the early hours of the morning by staff.
Police allege Mrs Nowland was using a walking frame and was holding a serrated steak knife at the time of the tasering before she fell and fractured her skull.
NSW Police say Clare Nowland was carrying a serrated steak knife. (Supplied: NSW Police)
She died a week later in Cooma Hospital after suffering inoperable bleeding on the brain.
Ms Nowland was survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.
Senior Constable White pleaded not guilty to one count of manslaughter in May.
The court heard a determination would be made on October 14 as to whether Senior Constable White's trial would be held in front of a jury or a lone judge in the NSW Supreme Court.
Kristian White's criminal trial is expected to last four weeks in the NSW Supreme Court. (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)
Senior Constable White's lawyers told the court they were likely to rely on the defence that his actions were a reasonable use of force to be used by a police officer on duty, and not self-defence.
Documentation and digital footage, including CCTV from inside the aged care home and police body-worn camera videos, will be tendered as evidence during the trial.
It is scheduled to begin on November 11 and is expected to last four weeks, although Crown prosecutors told the court it could finish sooner.
Senior Constable White will remain on bail until his trial.