Tasered gran showed signs of ‘significant brain bleed’, says paramedic

An elderly woman Tasered by police displayed a number of concerning medical signs as she was stretchered out of her aged-care facility, a paramedic has told the court.

Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White shot his stun gun at great-grandmother Clare Nowland at Yallambee Lodge in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of May 17, 2023.

Paramedics Anna Hofner and Kingsley Newman were called to the scene around 4am after the on-duty registered nurse informed triple-zero that the 95-year-old was acting aggressively while holding two knives.

They were present when Nowland, who had symptoms of dementia, was tasered by White and collapsed in the facility's treatment room.

The pair then stretchered her to the ambulance, taking her under lights and sirens to Cooma Hospital, where she died a week later.

At a manslaughter trial for the 34-year-old police officer in the NSW Supreme Court today, one of the paramedics Newman told the jury that Nowland showed concerning and unusual medical signs even when loaded into the ambulance.

These included a large bruise-like mark called a haematoma which was around five or six centimetres, he said.

Her face also indicated there was something wrong internally.

"She had some facial droop on the opposite side to the injury indicating a pretty significant brain bleed," he told the court.

After the incident, White's partner Acting Sergeant Jessica Pank radioed into Cooma police station that Nowland had a "small lump" on her head but that the paramedics were managing it.

Sergeant Pank has not been charged over the incident but is expected to give evidence at White's trial.

Hofner took the stand, telling the court she had stepped back from Nowland when the 95-year-old stood up and walked towards the door of the treatment room holding the knife.

"I believe she was close enough that if she decided to strike out with the knife I could have potentially been hit," she told the jury.

However, she backtracked from this under questioning by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, admitting she was at a safe distance and was not close enough to be stabbed.

"I suggest to you there was no danger of any of you being struck by her, do you agree or disagree?" Hatfield asked.

"I agree," said Hofner.

The paramedic said she did not see how the situation could have been resolved peacefully given Nowland's refusal to relinquish the knife.

In response, Hatfield suggested they could have simply given her time.

"Possibly but how long would we have to wait?" Hofner asked.

The jury previously heard that it was only around three minutes after the group found Nowland in the treatment room that White shot her with the taser.

The 34-year-old has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, claiming he acted lawfully under his duties as a police officer.

The court also heard evidence from two assistant nurses Mamta Rai and Geeta Phuyal who were working that night about their dealings with the 95-year-old in the two hours before she was tasered.

Both tried unsuccessfully to get her to give up the weapons, with Rai saying the great-grandmother had thrown one of the knives at her.

"It landed on the floor, it didn't hit me directly," she said.

The trial continues.