Two police officers who displayed a “shocking lack of humanity” have had their jail sentences slashed by two-and-a-half years after brutally beating a naked mentally ill woman.
Nathan Black, 30, and Timothy John Trautsch, 31, were jailed for more than five years after unleashing a violent attack on a 48-year-old woman in January 2023.
The senior constable and constable had been called to Sydney's west for a welfare check on the woman, who was naked and experiencing a psychotic episode.
Instead of helping her, the two officers repeatedly kicked, stomped, and pepper-sprayed the woman, causing great pain to her open wounds and genitals.
Black and Trautsch, who have since been sacked by the NSW Police Force, argued in their appeal that their jail sentences were manifestly excessive.
Among their grounds of appeal, they argued the judge had erred in finding the offences were aggravated by gratuitous cruelty and both an abuse of authority and trust.
The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the appeal on Monday, slashing the sentences by at least two-and-a-half years each.
The judges found the sentencing judge erred in finding the assault offences had been aggravated by gratuitous cruelty.
Judge Graham Turnbull’s finding didn’t assist the assessment of objective seriousness, they ruled.
“The finding that there was 'needless and intentional violence' did not justify the finding of gratuitous cruelty,” the panel of judges wrote.
However, they made it clear that this decision related to the application of judicial principles to the assault offence rather than a characterisation of the confrontation.
“There is no doubt that the brutal assault of the victim was not only cruel but also, in the sense of being unnecessary, gratuitous,” the judges found.
They said it was, however, open to Judge Turnbull to find the officers’ use of capsicum spray to ensure the compliance of the vulnerable woman was gratuitously cruel.
But they found he erred in finding the offences were aggravated by both a breach of trust and a breach of authority without clearly defining the relationship between those breaches.
Black and Trautsch argued the panel should accept they were at risk of physical harm from the victim when resentencing them, pointing to her threats to kill them.
The contention was "surprising" given the woman’s “plainly delusional” state and smaller physical stature, the judges noted while dismissing it.
“There was, to put it bluntly, a shocking lack of humanity displayed towards the victim," they wrote.
Both former police officers were found to be remorseful and their difficulties in custody, including threats which have left them “extremely fearful”, were taken into account.
Trautsch’s jail term was reduced to three years, two of which he will be required to spend behind bars before he is eligible for parole in August 2027.
Black’s sentence was reduced to three years and two months and he will be eligible for parole in September 2027.
He was given a slightly longer sentence than his former colleague for sending footage of the attack to a workmate.
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