Former police officers appeal sentence amid safety fears in jail after bashing nude woman in Sydney’s west

A former police officer living behind bars wants an earlier release to parole because of the constant fear he won’t make it out alive.

Former NSW police officers Timothy John Trautsch, 31, and Nathan Black, 29, were sacked from the force and jailed for more than five years after they bashed a naked woman in public during a welfare check in 2023.

Both have appealed, arguing their sentences were manifestly excessive.

Trautsch’s barrister on Wednesday also argued his client was deteriorating behind bars, where he said former members of the force were not treated kindly.

“There are some particularly disturbing features that have happened to my client in custody,” barrister Philip Strickland SC told the NSW Criminal Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

“There have been many occasions where he struggles to sleep at night because he believes someone will come in and kill him.”

Strickland argued his client’s sentence should be reduced such that he could be paroled in 2026.

He is currently eligible for parole in August 2028, with his head sentence running into 2031.

Trautsch and Black were jailed in August 2025 after being called to check the welfare of a woman experiencing a psychotic episode in western Sydney.

The nude woman, 48, was kicked in the head repeatedly, dragged by the hair, stomped on and punched for nearly 20 minutes.

The two officers struggled to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms.

In response, the officers pepper-sprayed her in the face, her genitals, and onto open wounds on her back caused by dragging her along the road.

“The treatment of the victim was clearly brutal and, as I find ... involves gratuitous cruelty.”

Trautsch was jailed for five-and-a-half years while Black received five years and nine months.