Two former New South Wales police officers have had their jail sentences reduced by at least two-and-a-half years after they assaulted a naked woman experiencing a psychotic episode in Sydney’s west.
Nathan Black, 30, and Timothy John Trautsch, 31, were originally sentenced to more than five years in prison for the January 2023 attack on the 48-year-old woman.
The officers had been called to carry out a welfare check. Instead, they repeatedly kicked and stomped on the woman and used capsicum spray, causing pain to her open wounds and genitals.
Both men, who have since been dismissed by the NSW Police Force, appealed against their sentences. They argued the punishments were manifestly excessive and challenged findings that their offences involved gratuitous cruelty and an abuse of authority and trust.
The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the appeal on Monday, ruling that the sentencing judge had applied the wrong principles when finding the assault offences were aggravated by gratuitous cruelty.
“The finding that there was ‘needless and intentional violence’ did not justify the finding of gratuitous cruelty,” the judges said.
However, the appeal court stressed that its ruling concerned the legal assessment of the assault offences, rather than the nature of the confrontation itself. The judges said there was “no doubt that the brutal assault of the victim was not only cruel but also, in the sense of being unnecessary, gratuitous”.
They found it was open to the sentencing judge to conclude that using capsicum spray to make the vulnerable woman comply was gratuitously cruel. But they said the judge had not clearly distinguished between a breach of trust and a breach of authority when applying both aggravating factors.
Black and Trautsch also argued they should be treated as having faced a risk of physical harm from the woman, pointing to threats she had made to kill them. The judges rejected the argument, describing it as “surprising” given the woman’s “plainly delusional” state and smaller physical stature.
“There was, to put it bluntly, a shocking lack of humanity displayed towards the victim,” the appeal judges wrote.
Both men were found to have shown remorse. The court also took into account their difficulties in custody, including threats which had left them “extremely fearful”.
Trautsch’s sentence was reduced to three years, with a non-parole period of two years. He will be eligible for parole in August 2027.
Black was sentenced to three years and two months, with parole eligibility in September 2027. His sentence was slightly longer because he sent footage of the attack to a workmate.
