Tasered Cooma grandmother funeral: Clare Nowland coffin carried into church as family say goodbye

A 95-year-old great-grandmother, tasered by a police officer at her nursing home, has been buried after her coffin was carried to her favorite church.

The wooden box, decorated with colorful flowers, carried by Clare Nowland was carried one foggy Wednesday morning to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Cooma, where Mrs. Nowland had been a resident parishioner and pastoral assistant.

The 150-year-old stone church in southern NSW was shrouded in fog as Mrs Nowland’s friends and family gathered to celebrate her long life and focus on her contributions to the local community.

The service heard how Clare was a lifelong supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team and a golf fan.

Relatives wiped away tears and smiles as Ms Nowland’s children recalled growing up in Kensington, a Sydney suburb, and being punished at her school for running a ball over a fence by nuns who berated her: ” ladies don’t climb fences’.

Clare Nowland died on May 24, a week after she was tasered by Cooma officer Senior Constable Kristian White at around 4:00 am on May 17 when police were called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home.

Family and friends gathered to say goodbye to the 95-year-old a month after she was tasered by Cooma police officer Kristian White

The life of Clare Nowland (above) was remembered as a lifelong sport mad golf and Rabbitohs rugby league fan at a ceremony at St Patricks Catholic Church in Cooma

She was surrounded by her children when she died after suffering severe head injuries in a fall during the Tasering, and never regained consciousness.

White, who has been charged in the incident, was not present at his home in Cooma on Wednesday after being seen running errands with his family in the Snowy Mountains town last week.

St Patrick’s Parish Priest Father Mark Croker officiated at Mrs Nowland’s farewell ceremony, along with Archdiocese of Goulburn and Canberra priest Father Mick MacAndrew and Father Bede North, one of Mrs Nowland’s eight children.

After the requiem mass, she was buried in Cooma Lawn Cemetery.

Today’s celebration was a tribute to Mrs. Nowland’s long life of helping others, her love for her large family, and her faith.

Funeral workers removed Ms Nowland’s coffin from a hearse at St Patrick’s Catholic Church on Wednesday morning as friends and family gathered to say goodbye

Friends and relatives of Ms Nowland arrived at St Patrick’s Church on Wednesday where the 95-year-old is said goodbye

Relatives of Nowland entered St. Patrick’s for the ceremony honoring the great-grandmother’s life

Order of service for the requiem mass for Clare Nowland (pictured) distributed on Wednesday to friends and family who attended her farewell at St Patricks Church

The demented, who weighed just 43kg, was holding a steak knife and “slowly” approaching police in her walker when she was tasered.

Mrs. Nowland was also remembered for setting up the local St. Vincent de Paul store in the town.

White, 33, has been suspended with pay since Ms Nowland was tasered at Yallambee Lodge. The great-grandmother died a week later from injuries sustained when she fell and hit her head.

Family hugged outside the church before heading to St Patrick’s where Clare Nowland’s requiem mass was held on Wednesday

Clare Nowland (second from left, in red waistcoat) in 2016 with members of her family including son, Father Bede North, third from right

Friends and family listen to stories from the life of Clare Nowland, who was remembered as a sports fanatic, at St Patricks Church

Police have revealed to Daily Mail Australia that White has been in a ‘heightened emotional state’ since being charged over the incident.

White and a female sergeant were taken out of bed in the early hours of May 17 to answer an emergency call to Yallambee, where Nowland had strayed from her residence.

Police say the 157 cm tall great-grandmother was on a walker in a treatment room.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter has described bodycam footage of the Tasering as ‘confrontational’, while Commissioner Karen Webb has refused to look at it as police investigate the incident.

The two officers confronted the “slow-approaching” pensioner who was holding a serrated knife and reportedly preparing to disarm here, when White reportedly said “no, motherfucker” and fired his taser into Ms. Nowland’s chest.

Sen. Con White will appear in Cooma County Court on July 5 on charges of grievous bodily harm, assault with bodily harm and common assault.

Taser agent Kristian White did not answer questions about Clare Nowland’s Tasering when she was seen last week for the first time since the 95-year-old’s alleged assault and subsequent death