NSW Police Officers Plead Guilty After Brutalising and Degrading Mentally Ill Woman

Two New South Wales police officers have pleaded guilty to criminal offences after their body worn cameras filmed them approaching a naked 48-year old woman who was clearly in the midst of a mental health episode, punching, kicking and stomping on the woman, spraying her genitals and face with capsicum spray, mocking her, bragging to one another that “we caved her in” and sending mobile phone footage of their conquest to a colleague.

The incident

28-year old senior constable Nathan Black and 30 year old constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they were called to make a welfare check on a 48-year old schizophrenic woman who was sitting naked under a tree at a cul-de-sac in Emu Plains, Western Sydney on 22 January 2023. An ambulance was already in attendance when the pair arrived.

The woman refused to get into the ambulance and, over subsequent minutes, the officers struggled to handcuff her as she lashed out with her arms and swore at the officers. 

Video footage shows the officers throwing the woman to the ground, kicking her twice to the head, dragging her by her hair and punched. The officers also sprayed the woman six times with OC (capsicum) spray, including directly to her face and her genitals at close range. While being brutalised, the woman is heard pleading, “Please. I’m strong, God, but not without you, God”, “God protect me” and “God, please. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I’m sorry, God”.

After brutally assaulting the woman, laughing and demeaning her with phrases like “Wash your dirty stinky arse”, one of the officers is heard to say, “that’s enough, there could be cameras”. The officers then continue to laugh at and mock the woman while she is handcuffed, restrained and groaning on the ground in distress. 

After the incident, one of the officers is heard stating “we caved her in” and officer Black sends a 17-second video from his mobile phone to his colleague together with a caption stating, “She was fucked the whole body-worn is go good shows her being fucked”.

Nurses in attendance made a formal complaint about the conduct of officers, and their body worn camera footage was later accessed confirming their version of the events.

The woman died 18 months after the incident for reasons said to be unrelated to the assault.

Criminal charges

An investigation was launched into the incident and the officers were subsequently charged with a range of criminal offences.

The officers ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of unauthorised use of a prohibited weapon (which relates to the illegal use of capsicum spray). Officer Black additionally pleaded to two counts of intentionally publishing protected information. 

Video footage from the incident was played during sentencing proceedings in Penrith District Court on Thursday, 10 July 2025 and Crown Prosecutor Nicholas Marney commenced his submissions, highlighting the gross use of excessive force, the degrading conduct of the officers towards the woman despite being informed of her mental illness and their conduct after the incident, illegally sending a clip to a colleague and gloating of their treatment of the woman.  

The sentencing hearing has been adjourned until 15 July 2025.

The defendants are no longer in the police force. They have been on bail throughout the course of the proceedings.

Police Excessive Force 

Section 231 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 states that police officers may only use ‘such force as is reasonably necessary’ to arrest a person. If a police officer breaches this law, the arrested person may be able to claim self-defence in section 418 of the NSW Crimes Act, which can combat the charge of ‘resisting arrest’ by an officer. 

Section 418 states a person is not guilty of resisting arrest in the execution of a police officer’s duty if:

• They believed the conduct was necessary to defend themselves or another person, and 
• The conduct was reasonable as perceived by the person.

Any force beyond what is considered ‘reasonably necessary’ by the officer amounts to a criminal offence.

Given the horrendously brazen conduct of former officers Black and Trautsch, and the fact it only came to light due to complaints by attending nurses, one might wonder what other crimes the pair has perpetrated against vulnerable members of the community.

And considering former officer Black’s confidence in sending video footage to a colleague, bragging if his ‘manly conquest’ of a middle-aged, naked, mentally ill woman, one wonders whether police rhetoric of protecting the public and combating violence against women is just that – rhetoric – when in reality the force is plagued by a culture of violence and criminality.