NSW Police approved a statement omitting the use of the taser
“At this point, the body worn video is evidence that will form part of the investigator’s report. “There may be a future where I need to make a decision based on evidence without making the mistake of seeing part of the evidence out of context,” Webb said.
As reported in the herald on Sunday, Investigating critical incidents can be an extremely slow process, with some outstanding investigations dating back to 2017. However, Webb said she wasn’t worried about that as some matters were still before the courts and she hoped there would be findings on Nowland within the next few weeks.
“These matters are currently either before the criminal courts or before the coroner and that would be dead wrong [to release findings] … before the criminal or coroner’s affairs are actually completed,” she said.
“I hope that the transcripts will be available in the next few weeks and that the expert can form an opinion on the use of the taser.”
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Father Mark Croker of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Cooma said he was with Nowland around noon on Sunday and spent every few days there while she was in terminal care.
“[The family are] They consider it their time to say goodbye,” he said.
“As far as I know it’s a brain hemorrhage she’s having… Doctors have said she is not expected to regain consciousness [and] People are realistic.”
Prime Minister Chris Minns later spoke to Fordham and said he had alerted many people to the incident.
“Clearly, the circumstances were very worrying from the start and my condolences go out to the Nowland family,” he said.
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“It’s really important to have confidence in the ongoing investigation.”
Minns avoided commenting on Webb’s handling of the situation and whether she should look at the body camera footage due to his inability to question the commissioner.
“I think it’s important to note that she said that she’s not in a situation where she’ll never look, she may have to, but in context,” he said.
“Having spoken to the Minister of Police I am confident that there are experienced investigators looking into the entire incident and making sure the community can have confidence that everything has been fully investigated.”
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