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Should granny-killer cop be jailed? · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, November twenty eight. Chris Bowen says more renewables
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  Speaker 1: means a more secure energy supply in his annual Update
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  Speaker 1: to Parliament. The Climate Change Minister will also say unreliable
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  Speaker 1: coal fired power stations are to blame for energy shortages
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  Speaker 1: and blackouts. The Reserve Bank is unlikely to budge on
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  Speaker 1: interest rates even though inflation is hovering at its lowest
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  Speaker 1: level in more than three years. To read all our
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  Speaker 1: experts analysis of that, go to the Australian dot com
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  Speaker 1: dot U. Police officer Christian White is facing a jail
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  Speaker 1: sentence after a new South Wales jury found him guilty
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  Speaker 1: of the manslaughter of ninety five year old great grandmother
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  Speaker 1: Claire Nowland. White tasered the elderly lady inside her nursing
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  Speaker 1: home as she clutched a steak knife and a walking frame.
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  Speaker 1: Today what the judge must weigh when deciding whether to
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  Speaker 1: send him to prison. That's today's story.
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  Speaker 2: Guilty, so says your foreman, So say you all.
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  Speaker 1: This was the moment police officer Christian White was found
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  Speaker 1: guilty of the manslaughter of ninety five year old nursing
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  Speaker 1: home resident Claire Nowland in the New South Wales Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court in Sydney. We've used voice actors to bring you
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  Speaker 1: the words spoken in court, including those of the presiding Judge,
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  Speaker 1: Justice Ian Harrison.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you members of the jury that completes your task
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  Speaker 3: in this court. I thank you on behalf of the court.
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  Speaker 3: You may now return to the jury room.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it was incredibly shocking news.
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  Speaker 1: Claire. Ellie Dudley is The Australian's Legal affairs correspondent and.
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  Speaker 2: I think that was one of the most striking things
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  Speaker 2: when we saw that footage, when we heard the story.
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  Speaker 2: Is the idea that someone couldn't disarm her, or a
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  Speaker 2: working police officer couldn't deal with this situation in any
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  Speaker 2: other way than by tasering her.
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  Speaker 1: Something just didn't quite stack up. Four generations of Claire
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  Speaker 1: Nolan's family gathered at the Deacon Oval to witness her feet.
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  Speaker 1: Clare alland marked her eightieth birthday by jumping out of
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  Speaker 1: a plane. Claire received a give certificate for the jump
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  Speaker 1: for her birthday in February and today was the big day.
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  Speaker 1: We both feet back on the ground. The Great grandmother
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  Speaker 1: couldn't have been more thrilled.
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  Speaker 4: Oh fantastic, Tommy.
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  Speaker 2: I've always wanted to.
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  Speaker 4: Do and I've done that thanks to all your kids.
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  Speaker 1: Fast forward fifteen years and Clare Alland had moved to
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  Speaker 1: a nursing home in her hometown of Cooma in New
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  Speaker 1: South Wales. She was suffering dementia. It was at ya
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  Speaker 1: Lambe Lodge in the early hours of May seventeen, twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three, that her life came to an end.
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  Speaker 3: The ninety five year old grandmother allegedly tasered by a
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  Speaker 3: New South Wales police officer last week, has died, prompting
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  Speaker 3: tributes from her family.
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  Speaker 1: Nursing home staff called police because Claire Alland had acquired
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  Speaker 1: a stake knife from the facility's kitchen and they weren't
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  Speaker 1: able to take it from her. Police officer Christian White
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  Speaker 1: claimed he issued a number of warnings to Claire as
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  Speaker 1: she approached him with both hands on her walking frame.
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  Speaker 1: A voice actor is reading the words allegedly spoken by
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  Speaker 1: Christian White during the confrontation.
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  Speaker 5: You could coming. You're going to get tased.
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  Speaker 1: The prosecution alleged White then said bugger and discharged his taser.
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  Speaker 1: Claire Awland fell backwards and hit her head on the floor.
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  Speaker 1: She weighed just forty seven kilograms the time of her
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  Speaker 1: death got her missus Nowland succumbed to injuries in hospital
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  Speaker 1: a week later, at which point the thirty four year
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  Speaker 1: old Comfortable was charged with recklessly causing River's bodily harm,
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  Speaker 1: assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault. Those charges
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  Speaker 1: were upgraded to manslaughter in December. Now, this is something
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  Speaker 1: that is always difficult and controversial when a police officer
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  Speaker 1: deploys deadly force. Another police officer in New South Wales
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  Speaker 1: was hailed as a hero this year during the Bondi
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  Speaker 1: Junction massacre for taking down an assailant. It really showed
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  Speaker 1: that the stark contrast between the way two different officers
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  Speaker 1: handled two different offenders, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And I think with the Bondai Junction massacre,
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  Speaker 2: the offender there was going on a stabbing rampage through
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  Speaker 2: a shopping center. In this situation, you've got this incredibly
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  Speaker 2: vulnerable elderly lady who's shuffling her way through a nursing home.
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  Speaker 2: Watching that CCTV footage of right is so striking because
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  Speaker 2: she does not seem capable of harming anybody, and so
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  Speaker 2: this idea that the taser was the only way that
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  Speaker 2: she could be disarmed is quite unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: White faced a two week trial in the New South
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  Speaker 1: Wales Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge.
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  Speaker 1: Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield their Sea argued White breached his
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  Speaker 1: duty of care to clan Eland and caused her death
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  Speaker 1: either due to dangerous behavior or negligence, but the barrister
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  Speaker 1: representing White at trial, Troy Edwards, sc said the Constable
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  Speaker 1: was justified in discharging his taser because of the immediate
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  Speaker 1: threat to his safety and the safety of others. White
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  Speaker 1: gave evidence in his own defense, saying he believed the
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  Speaker 1: situation would only be resolved through the use of force.
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  Speaker 1: We've used a voice actor to bring you his words.
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  Speaker 5: I understood it was going to cause her some sort
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  Speaker 5: of injury and pain, but I felt that the risk
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  Speaker 5: it elevated to the point where it needed a resolution.
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  Speaker 5: It's not our job to shy away from those types
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  Speaker 5: of incidents. I never intended for her to be injured
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  Speaker 5: by it at all.
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  Speaker 1: Many of missusn Allan's eight children twenty four grandchildren and
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  Speaker 1: thirty great grandchildren sat in the public gallery for the
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  Speaker 1: duration of the proceedings.
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  Speaker 2: It's one of the most frustrating parts about this job
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  Speaker 2: sometimes is not not being able to hear why a
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  Speaker 2: jury makes the decision. The word that really sticks out
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  Speaker 2: to me there is immediate, the immediate threat. There was
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  Speaker 2: nothing immediate about this lady. She wasn't moving quickly, she
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  Speaker 2: didn't seem like she was going to make any abrupt movements.
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  Speaker 2: She was clearly able to be outrun. And so I
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  Speaker 2: think I understand. While we don't know the exact reason
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  Speaker 2: why the jury made their decision, I would have to
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  Speaker 2: assume that it has something to do with the fact
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  Speaker 2: that this woman was not an immediate threat to this
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  Speaker 2: police officer because there were so many other opportunities for
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  Speaker 2: him to take care of the situation other than deploying
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  Speaker 2: his taser.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up, What do you do with a guilty police officer.
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  Speaker 3: So that there's no secret about it. I will not
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  Speaker 3: commit a policeman to custody until I understand the conditions
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  Speaker 3: under which he will be held. If he is to
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  Speaker 3: be held.
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  Speaker 1: Justice N. Harrison put on a rare display of frustration
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  Speaker 1: in the New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday. His
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  Speaker 1: words were read by a voice actor. The distinguished Judge's
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  Speaker 1: name will be familiar to listeners of The Front and
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  Speaker 1: the Australians podcast series The Teacher's Pet. It was Justice
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  Speaker 1: and Harrison who presided over the twenty twenty two murder
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  Speaker 1: trial of rugby league star Christopher Michael Dawson. There was
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  Speaker 1: no jury in that trial due to the immense media
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  Speaker 1: interest generated by our podcast. Investigated by national Chief Corspar
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  Speaker 1: Hedley Thomas, Justice Harrison found Chris Dawson guilty of the
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two murder of his wife, Lynnette Simms.
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  Speaker 4: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge that on are about
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  Speaker 4: eight January nineteen eighty two, at playview or elsewhere in
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  Speaker 4: the state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynette Dawson.
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  Speaker 4: I find you guilty the message there.
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  Speaker 1: Dawson is serving a twenty four year sentence for the
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  Speaker 1: crime after unsuccessfully appealing his conviction. Sometimes when defendants are
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  Speaker 1: found guilty of a crime like manslaughter, they're taken straight
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  Speaker 1: into custody. Here's how it happened with Chris Dawson.
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  Speaker 4: Mister will be necessary to be taken into custody.
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  Speaker 1: But because Christian White is a police officer, there are
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  Speaker 1: extra considerations. That's a fact Justice Harrison acknowledged after the
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  Speaker 1: jury's verdict was handed down.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to be too specific about it, but
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  Speaker 3: this is not a usual situation.
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  Speaker 1: White's barrister, Troy Edwards sc made an application regarding if
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  Speaker 1: and how White might be detained to protect his personal
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  Speaker 1: safety until he's formally sentenced. He's Ellie Dudley.
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  Speaker 2: Putting a police officer in jail would be putting them
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  Speaker 2: in a terrible situation, more terrible than any other regular civilian,
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  Speaker 2: because police officers are obviously so hated by criminals. I
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  Speaker 2: was having a chat with a criminal barrister earlier today
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  Speaker 2: and he was saying, well, we know that the maximum
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  Speaker 2: sentence that Christian White could serve is twenty years. He
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  Speaker 2: was expecting it to be much lower than that, somewhere
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  Speaker 2: around the five year mark, if not lower. And he
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  Speaker 2: was saying that's because it's likely the judge will take
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  Speaker 2: into account circumstances that he was in He was called
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  Speaker 2: out to a job, this woman was wilding a knife.
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  Speaker 2: He was doing his job, and that will all be
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  Speaker 2: taken into account when it comes to sentencing. But if
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  Speaker 2: he does end up serving a custodial sentence, it will
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  Speaker 2: be really difficult because he will likely end up in
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  Speaker 2: protective custody. That's with incredibly dangerous criminals and other cops
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  Speaker 2: as well. With we will make serving that sentence incredibly hard.
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  Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley is The Australian's Legal affairs correspondent. You can
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  Speaker 1: read all her outstanding reporting anytime at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot au