Missing hours before cops admitted great-grandmother Clare Nowland had been Tasered in nursing home

Police did not publicly admit that a 95-year-old woman was tasered until nearly 54 hours after she was hit by a power surge in her nursing home.

Clare Nowland was ‘slowly’ approaching an officer in her walker when she was tasered at Yallambie Lodge in southern NSW at around 4:15am last Wednesday.

Ms. Nowland, who suffers from dementia, reportedly took a knife from the kitchen of the Cooma facility, which police and paramedics were unable to get her to put down.

After being shot with the Taser, the St. Vincent de Paul volunteer and lifelong churchgoer fell backwards and fractured her skull when her head hit the ground.

Police issued their first press release about the incident more than 12 hours later at 4:41 p.m., stating that an “elderly woman sustained injuries while interacting with police at a retirement home.”

Noticeably absent was any mention of the word ‘Taser’.

The media began reporting that Ms Nowland had been tasered on Thursday afternoon, but it was not until 9:57 am on Friday that police first reported that fact in an official statement.

Ms. Nowland, who weighs only 43 kg and is 157 cm tall, remains at Cooma District Hospital where she receives end-of-life care.

Senior Constable Kristian White, the 188 cm (6’2″) officer who fired the Taser at the great-grandmother, has been suspended with pay.

A week after Ms Nowland was tasered, radio host Ben Fordham ripped into the NSW Police Force about how it had released information about the incident that has made headlines around the world.

“There are questions to be answered about how the police handled this and not just the officer who used the Taser at the nursing home, but also the spin doctors in the senior ranks of NSW Police,” Fordham said Wednesday morning.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb has since said there was no mention of a taser in the initial press release due to concerns about Ms Nowland’s family.

“It was necessary for us to make sure the family was aware of the circumstances,” Commissioner Webb told Fordham on Monday.

“We didn’t want the family to hear about what happened to their mother on radio and TV, so we had to be a little sensitive about that and if we could talk about it, we did.”

Referring to the initial police statement, Fordham rejected Commissioner Webb’s claim on Wednesday morning.

“They had 12 hours to prepare it and warn Clare’s relatives that the news was about to be made public,” he told his 2GB audience.

The initial police statement said a critical incident team was investigating the matter, but made no reference to the Taser and claimed no further details are available at this time.

“I’m sorry, but more details were available at the time,” Fordham said. “The hidden detail was the taser.

“There was no reasonable excuse for hiding the taser in the police statement.

“The commissioner, Karen Webb, says she didn’t want Clare’s family to find out over the radio. But now 12 hours had passed.

The police would have known that including the word “Taser” in the press release would have aroused more interest.

“After all, it’s likely that Clare is the oldest person in the world ever to be tasered. But the press release from Wednesday afternoon doesn’t mention the Taser.’

Police had still not said Ms Nowland had been tasered on Thursday afternoon when the media began reporting that fact almost 36 hours after the incident.

“But when we went to bed Thursday night, we still had nothing official from the police,” Fordham said. “Then we’ll tap through to Friday morning.”

The police media unit issued another statement at 9:57 am that day saying that when Ms Nowland was confronted at the nursing home, she was ‘still armed with a knife’.

“Police tried to talk to the woman,” they said. “During this interaction, a senior officer discharged his taser, causing the woman to fall and hit her head.”

Later that morning, Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter, the commander of the southern region, gave more details at a press conference at police headquarters.

Fordham noted that the first official reference to a Taser came more than two days after Ms Nowland was taken to hospital – almost 54 hours had passed.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not good enough,” Fordham said.

“The police know when there is a critical incident, transparency is vital. And honesty was missing from the start.’

Fordham said Commissioner Webb’s claim that police had not referred to the Taser out of concern for Ms Nowland’s family was “absurd”.

“Hiding the Taser had nothing to do with protecting Clare or her loved ones,” he said.

“The police commissioner has to admit that this is not good enough. Next time tell the truth and tell it right away.”

Commissioner Webb has been criticized for not reviewing body-worn CCTV footage showing Ms Nowland being tasered.

“I’m not actually the detective and the important thing here is that the detectives do their job and let them do their job without me interfering,” she told Sunrise Tuesday morning.

“Whether I watch the video or not, that doesn’t make this investigation any faster.”

Commissioner Webb saw no value in viewing the footage without knowing what happened before and after the weapon was used.

NSW Police have been contacted for comment.