A jury considering the fate of a police officer who fatally tasered a 95-year-old woman has been sent home for the day after three hours of closed-door deliberations.
Senior Constable Kristian James Samuel White discharged his stun gun at Clare Nowland in a treatment room at Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma during the early hours of May 17, 2023.
In video footage played at his NSW Supreme Court trial, after he was charged with manslaughter, the 34-year-old officer was heard saying "nah, bugger it" before shooting the great-grandmother in the torso.
Mrs Nowland, who was holding a steak knife at the time, fell backwards and hit her head before dying a week later in hospital.
Justice Ian Harrison gave his closing remarks to the jury on Wednesday before it retired to commence deliberations.
“Clearly, you have very important matters to decide in this case, important not only to Mr White but also to the whole community," the judge said.
However, after three hours in the jury room, no verdict was reached and the eight women and four men were told they could go home.
The jury will reconvene on Thursday.
Justice Harrison said the trial would not continue on Friday if a proposed train strike by the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union goes ahead, but that jurors would still be compensated for their time.
"It's not easy to recover wages lost or work time in the middle of a trial so you will be paid," he told them.
During the eight-day trial, crown prosecutors argued White was either criminally negligent or performed an unlawful and dangerous act that caused Mrs Nowland's death.
Family, friends and other supporters have been in court to personally hear the evidence against the 95-year-old's alleged killer and are awaiting the verdict.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC called the officer's conduct "utterly unnecessary and obviously dangerous".
“I ask you to hold him responsible for his conduct with a verdict of guilty," he said.
But the officer's defence team claimed that tasering the knife-wielding 95-year-old was a proportionate response to the danger she posed.
Barrister Troy Edwards SC disputed prosecution arguments that Mrs Nowland only posed a very limited threat.
"You might think that, the people there didn't think so," he said.
It was White's job to disarm Mrs Nowland and he did not have the option to just turn on his heels and walk away, Mr Edwards added.
