Elderly woman tasered by NSW police in Cooma, Sydney is expected to die, was making toast

A 95-year-old great-grandmother fighting for her life after being tasered by police is said to have made toast with a butter knife at her NSW nursing home at 4am, it has been revealed.

Dementia patient Claire Nowland, who is 157 cm tall and weighs 43 kilograms, is said to be making a snack in the community kitchen at Yallambee Lodge near Cooma in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Community lawyer Andrew Thaler told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that Ms Nowland is receiving end-of-life care and her family has gathered around her, expecting her to pass away.

Mr Thaler said Ms Nowland had “two holes in her chest” from the teeth or barbs of the Taser fired from a distance by police – as questions are raised about the strength of the response.

Bodycam footage of the incident has not been released by NSW Police.

Police officers were called to the nursing home (pictured) after being told she had a kitchen knife. Ms Nowland was tasered while standing next to her walker

Mr Thaler said Ms Nowland’s family had suggested that their beloved eldest member could have simply made toast in one of the Yallambee kitchens equipped for residents to make snacks.

“She would like to make toast with a bread and butter knife, she’s confused. Her family is just in disbelief (in what happened),’ he said.

He said the family wondered if she had been tasered twice because she also had scars on her back and that the facility did not have enough staff to care for patients with dementia.

He believed there may have been only two carers on duty at 4 a.m. for 40 patients in five homes and that there was “a lack of training and for some of these workers English is not their first language, they may have panicked ‘.

He said the funding for dementia care to be installed in Yallambee had not been approved by the Snowy Monaro Regional Council but was vital.

NSW Police would say only that Ms Nowland, who suffers from dementia, was injured while ‘interacting’ with officers.

Mr Thaler challenged NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb to travel to Cooma and sit with Ms Nowland’s family for the difficult task of viewing the police bodycam of the incident.

Police were called to the nursing home early Wednesday after being told Ms Nowland carried a kitchen knife and tasered her while standing next to her walker.

It is believed officers struggled to disarm her before pulling out their tasers and firing at her back and chest.

Ms. Nowland, who was well known in the local community and believed to have been at the facility for about five years, collapsed and sustained serious injuries.

Josh Pallas, chairman of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said police should not use tasers on vulnerable people with dementia or a mental health crisis.

“Certainly, there must be more appropriate ways to deal with non-conforming people who are suffering,” he said.

NSW Police guidelines allow an officer to use a stun gun when violent resistance occurs or is imminent or when an officer is in danger of being overpowered.

The Snowy Monaro Regional Council, which runs Yallambee Lodge, said staff followed suit.

“The municipality supports our employees, residents and families during this difficult time,” the municipality said in a statement.

NSW Police have launched a Critical Incidents Investigation to investigate the actions of the responding officers. The research will be subject to an independent review.

Yallambee Lodge is a 40-bed facility designed for people who can no longer care for themselves in their own homes, according to the council’s website.

Ms. Nowland, who was well known in the local community and believed to have been at the facility for about five years, collapsed and sustained critical injuries

People with Disability Australia president Nicole Lee said it was a “shocking” incident.

“She’s either a wonderfully agile, fit, fast and intimidating 95-year-old woman, or there’s very poor judgment on the part of those police officers and there really has to be some accountability on their part,” Ms Lee said.

“This woman, an elderly woman of 95, needed someone to de-escalate the situation with her and talk to her, and deal with her with compassion and time and not tasers.”

Andrew Thaler called on Commissioner Webb to personally explain to Ms Nowland’s family what had happened, and to apologize.

“The country is rightly outraged,” he said.