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The police officer who took aim at a 95-year-old woman and ended her life will soon learn whether he faces solitary confinement in prison or remains out on bail before his manslaughter sentencing.
Senior Constable Christian James Samuel White fired his stun gun at Claire Nowland in a treatment room at Yallambee Lodge nursing home in the southern New Wales town of Cooma in the early hours of May 17, 2023.
In video footage aired during the trial in the NSW Supreme Court, the 34-year-old police officer was heard saying “no, fuck it” before shooting the great-grandmother in the torso.
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Police and paramedics were called to the nursing home after Ms Knowland grabbed two steak knives from a kitchen before turning them on residents and staff and slashing one at a carer.
White pulled the trigger after only three minutes of negotiations to get Ms Knowland to put down the remaining knife.
She hit her head on the floor when she fell and died in Cooma Hospital a week later.
A jury unanimously found White guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday, with Crown prosecutors attempting to put him behind bars a day later.
Judge Ian Harrison is due to hand down his decision on Friday after hearing from defense barrister Troy Edwards SC that a jail sentence for the officer was not imminent.
Evidence filed in court indicated that White would be placed under guard for his safety if imprisoned because of his status as an active police officer.
“The inmate will be classified as ‘non-associate for protection,’ which means he will not be in the physical presence of other inmates at any time,” wrote Detective Sergeant Mitchell Bosworth of the Homicide Squad.
White has been suspended without pay while NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb goes through the necessary legal procedures to remove him from the force.
His sentencing hearing is expected to take place in February.
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