25/05/2023, 13:00 Family, community mourn Clare Nowland, who died after being tasered by police in Cooma - ABC

by police in Cooma - ABC News

Family, community mourn Clare Nowland, who died after

being tasered by police in Cooma
ABC South East NSW

Posted Thu 25 May 2023 at 12:46pm

Clare Nowland died one week after being tasered by a senior constable at Yallambee
Lodge in Cooma. (Supplied)

A 95-year-old woman who died a week after being tasered by police in her nursing home in Cooma
is being remembered by her family as a "beautiful mum, nana and great-grandmother".

Clare Nowland, who had dementia, was hospitalised Key points:

in a critical condition after falling and fracturing her
skull during the confrontation with officers at
A police officer has been charged
Yallambee Lodge on May 17. after Clare Nowland, 95, was tasered
in her nursing home last week
"With great sadness, the Nowland family share that
Ms Nowland, who died overnight, is
our beloved Clare passed away this evening whilst
being remembered as a "generous"
surrounded by the love and support of her family,"
member of the Cooma community
the family said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Snowy Monaro mayor says the
council-run facility was "100 per cent
"We wish to thank the staff at compliant" when accredited last
Cooma Hospital for their care and year

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25/05/2023, 13:00 Family, community mourn Clare Nowland, who died after being tasered by police in Cooma - ABC News

support for Clare

Police said they had been called to the facility and found Ms Nowland holding a serrated steak knife.

They said she used a walking frame to approach them before the taser was deployed.

Yesterday Senior Constable Kristian White, 33, was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily
harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

Narelle Davis says Ms Noland will be remembered for her charity and selfless involvement
in the community. (Supplied: Snowy Monaro Regional Council)

'Wonderfully generous person'

Snowy Monaro Regional Council Mayor Narelle Davis said she had known Ms Nowland personally for
50 years and that she "left a great legacy".

"We'll always remember Mrs Nowland as that wonderfully generous person who always volunteered
within the church and within some very important community areas such as [the St Vincent de Paul
society]," she said.

Cr Davis said staff at the council-run Yallambee Lodge were being supported by trauma counsellors.

"We continue to provide high-level care to our residents in our facilities and support our staff the best
way we can by putting extra resources in," she said.

Ms Nowland had been a resident at the centre for five years.

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25/05/2023, 13:00 Family, community mourn Clare Nowland, who died after being tasered by police in Cooma - ABC News

Snowy Monaro Regional Council owns and runs Yallambie Lodge. (ABC South East NSW:

Adriane Reardon)

Facility compliant, council says

The council has confirmed it has made staff and documentation available to assist police and the
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission with their investigations.

Cr Davis said when the facility was accredited last year as part of a process related to the royal
commission into aged care, it passed with "100 per cent compliance".

"So for us, we continue to just work within the process and the changing domain of aged care and
adapt to the standards as they are put in place," she said.

Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said the incident would prompt formal
discussions about how people with dementia were treated at nursing homes.

"We'll be very open about what we learn from this case and other cases that have been ventilated in
the context," he said.

"I do hope that in time we are able to have a mature, informed conversation about the way in which
people with dementia – as we've had about people experiencing mental illness – are responded to."

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