Clare Nowland’s granddaughter Kylie Paske (above) posted a Facebook tribute to her grandmother
Clare Nowland’s self-described ‘favourite’ granddaughter has broken the family’s silence with a defiant social media post asking ‘how dare’ police ‘Taser my nana’.
Mrs Nowland, 95, died in hospital about 7pm on Wednesday surrounded by family, more than a week after she was Tasered by a cop in a nursing home at Cooma in southern NSW.
The dementia sufferer was Tasered by Senior Constable Kristian White after she refused to drop a serrated steak knife, as she moved slowly in her walker at Yallambee Lodge, about 4am on May 17.
She suffered serious head injuries including bleeding on the brain after falling to the floor and spent a week in end-of-life care.
Senior Constable White was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault shortly before Ms Nowland died.
Ms Paske became the first family member to publicly speak out about her grandmother on Tuesday night.
She used the hashtags #policetaseredmynana and #howdarethey, alongside a post accompanying a photo of a bunch of flowers sent by a friend to ‘share her love, friendship and concern for my beautiful Nana’.
Ms Nowland’s great-granddaughter Jaimie Lloyd (above) emerged from Cooma District Hospital in tears on Tuesday as dozens of relatives descended on the facility where the family matriarch died on Wednesday night
Granddaughter Kylie Paske added the hashtags #policetaseredmynana and #howdarethey to a Facebook post accompanying a photo of a bunch of flowers sent by a friend to ‘share her love, friendship and concern for my beautiful Nana’
Ms Paske, from Cooma, is a horse lover and campaigner for the protection of the Snowy Mountains brumby population.
Like the rest of Mrs Nowland’s large extended family she had remained silent until late on Tuesday, apart from a formal statement requesting privacy.
Mrs Nowland’s great-granddaughter Jaimie Lloyd was among several family members to emerge from Cooma District Hospital in tears throughout this week, as dozens of relatives descended on the facility.
Daily Mail Australia has learned family members rushed to the hospital about 5pm on Monday concerned that Mrs Nowland’s condition was deteriorating. Police stayed there until about 11pm.
The previous day a priest conducted a Catholic bedside mass for the lifelong churchgoer and St Vincent de Paul volunteer.
Ms Nowland was Tasered by Senior Constable Kristian White while moving slowly in her walker at Yallambee Lodge in the NSW Snowy Mountains after failing to drop a knife she was holding, according to police
Relatives Andrew Nowland (second from right) and Kym Lloyd (far right) were among more than 20 family and friends, some carrying flowers, who visited the hospital this week
Relatives Andrew Nowland and Bede Nowland were among the more than 20 family and friends, some carrying flowers, who visited the hospital before Ms Nowland’s death.
Security guards had been posted on the doors and a police presence in the form of Monaro area commander Superintendent John Klepczarek waited outside Ms Nowland’s room.
On Tuesday, Superintendent Klepczarek told Daily Mail Australia ‘we are here every day for the family’.
Police confirmed Ms Nowland’s death in a statement on Wednesday night.
‘It is with great sadness we confirm the passing of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in Cooma tonight,’ the statement said.
‘Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time.
‘Our thoughts and condolences remain with those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community.’
Ms Nowland’s family had issued a statement on Tuesday describing her as their ‘loving and gentle natured matriarch’.
Monaro police area commander Superintendent John Klepczarek (above) and another senior cop entered the hospital on Tuesday, soon after police confirmed that Senior Constable White had been suspended with pay following the incident
The statement said the family ‘wishes to express our profound love and affection for our Mum, Nana and Great Grandmother’ and thanked ‘Cooma, the wider region, in fact the whole country and around the world for the outpouring of support for her’.
Superintendent Klepczarek and another senior cop entered the hospital on Tuesday, soon after police confirmed that Senior Constable White had been suspended with pay following the incident.
A former Rural Fire Service responder and police officer with 12 years experience, Senior Constable White had been working in the Monaro command for at least three years conducting domestic violence investigations and other crime cases.
Daily Mail Australia understands that NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb visited the Nowland family last Friday after arriving by a private chartered Pelican jet.
Executives from Network Nine’s Sixty Minutes and A Current Affair and Network Seven’s Spotlight have been in Cooma and reportedly spoken with some members of Ms Nowland’s family about securing an exclusive TV interview.
Senior Constable White (above) is reportedly 188cm (6’2″) tall and weighs about 140kg, more than three time the size of 43kg Clare Nowland, who is 157cm tall (5’2″)
