Kristian White was sentenced to 450 hours of community service and placed under the supervision of a corrections officer for two years for manslaughter.
“Mr. White made by what any measure was a terrible mistake,” Justice Ian Harrison said in the New South Wales state Supreme Court.
Prosecutors had called for a prison term in the killing of Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who suffered dementia, but the judge said such a punishment was disproportionate.
“It is … at the lower end of seriousness of crimes amounting to wrongful death,” Harrison said.
So a peice of data for y’all. My Dad was 80+ and pretty frail with alzheimer’s. When he had an episode of paranoia, he was alarmingly strong, and suddenly could walk and move like he was 50 again. I’ve been told this is common and apparently is due to extreme adrenaline. But I observed that it can’t last all that long, 40 minutes was the max. I don’t think we should count out the 95 year old granny being dangerous. Now knowing that though, I would have attempted to avoid and delay. And really, I would do that no matter who it is. But I don’t know if the cop knows all that or if it was a realistic option. Most of the staff at memory care didn’t understand the concept, and this was a higher end facility.
Oh, and what the heck is the facility doing with steak knives? Unless “nursing home” means something different in Australia, the whole situation shouldn’t have occured. One judge said she was no threat. Then why did the facility call the police? I think a large portion of the blame here should be on the facility for allowing the situation to occur, and then calling in police who aren’t trained (I assume) in dealing with dementia patients.