An elderly care home resident has died in hospital one week after being tasered by police.
Grandmother Clare Nowland, 95, died from her injuries after she was tasered twice by a constable at the Yallambee Lodge in southern New South Wales, Australia.
The mother-of-eight had been found by staff holding a knife shortly after 4am last Wednesday and was "slowly" approached by officers before senior constable for the NSW force Kristian White, 33, shot her with his taser.
Dementia sufferer Clare, who weighed just 43kg, hit her head as she collapsed to the ground and this caused a bleed on the brain.
The Mirror reports White has now been charged with causing grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and common assault.
Speaking at a press conference, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said: "This matter now is before the court and there's little more that I can say about it other than to say that the Nowland family have been informed of this development".
She added that her "thoughts and prayers" were with Mrs Nowland and her family.
Andrew Thaler, who knows the family, told the Guardian Australia last week: "The police tasered this woman twice, once in front of her chest, and once in the back, then she’s fallen and struck her head.
“The family are grieving because they don’t expect their nan to make it through the day, or tomorrow at the latest."
White has been suspended from duty with pay and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the GBH charge.
The common assault charge could add another two years and up to seven years could be added for the ABH charge.
Webb said that White's employment will be under constant review, but at the moment he is "suspended from the workplace".
She added that depending on the court proceedings, charges against him could be later upgraded.
When asked why footage showing the pensioner being tasered was not being released, she replied: "I'm not the investigator."
Josh Pallas, president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, asked for police to stop using tasers on vulnerable people following the incident.
"Police overreach and disproportionality are common themes we see repeating over multiple incidents in NSW," Pallas said.
He continued: "Surely, there must be more appropriate ways to deal with non-compliant people who are suffering."
In February a review was released by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission examining 210 incidents involving the use of force by New South Wales police officers between May 2020 and May 2021.
It found tasers were used during 16 incidents.
The commission said in the report this was “relatively infrequently”.
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