Latest news with #PenrithDistrictCourt
News.com.au
15-07-2025
- News.com.au
Victim's genitalia ‘deliberately' sprayed by police, court hears
A mentally ill woman had a graze on her back pepper-sprayed like 'graffiti on a wall' by police with the aim of inflicting 'gratuitous pain', a court has heard. Former senior constables Timothy Trautsch and Nathan Black faced Penrith District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a series of assault charges over a 'welfare check' involving a 49-year-old woman in January 2023. The woman, who has chosen not to name, was in a 'state of psychosis' when she had her genitalia pepper-sprayed and received multiple kicks to the head after she ran away from the officers naked through the streets of Emu Plains in Sydney's west. The interaction was caught on bodyworn footage and CCTV. Ahead of their sentencing, crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney argued the men needed to be jailed for their actions, saying they had 'a complete disregard' for the woman's 'wellbeing and welfare as a human being'. Mr Marney pointed out that during the interaction, the victim was dragged across the ground by her hair causing a graze to her back. The graze was then pepper-sprayed by one of the officers. Judge Graham Turnbull SC told the court it looked like the officer was a 'graffiti artist spraying something on a wall'. 'It struck me, the particular aspect of the spray to the graze on the back,' Judge Graham Turnbull SC said. 'I struggle to understand what possible reason there could be for that other than an intention to inflict gratuitous pain.' The court also heard how the two officers charged the woman with two counts of assault after the interaction. The charges were withdrawn after nurses and paramedics reported their concern over the nature of the woman's injuries. Rewatching the CCTV on Wednesday, Judge Campbell said he believed that the victim's genitalia were 'deliberately' sprayed. 'I see things with my own eyes. The video has the potential to speak for itself. It's hard to watch,' Judge Campbell said. Mr Marney told the court a 'clear statement' needed to be made to the community as to not undermine their trust in police. 'They resorted to violence when there were other options. This wasn't two officers who snapped, this is two offenders that couldn't be bothered to do the right thing,' Mr Marney said. '[The victim] deserved to be treated respectfully and compassionately … or at the very least, lawfully.' Mr Marney also told the court Black appeared to be 'bizarrely proud of what he had done' after sending a 17-second bodyworn footage of the interaction to a colleague. 'Both OC cans emptied on her. Was f**ked,' he wrote. 'She was f**ked the whole body worn is so good shows her being f**ked. Nurses are lodging a complaint [senior officer] is investigating because we caved her, but she had a hold of the cuffs and we had no other options.' Judge Campbell said it appeared Black's motivation in sending the message was 'emotional satisfaction' and 'gloating'. The victim has since died from unrelated causes. The men's lawyer argued the former officers were acting in self defence as the victim posed a threat and was 'kicking out' at them. Speaking about Black, his lawyer labelled his client a 'frustrated offender' who had been 'pooped on'. 'He hasn't dealt with the situation well but he is not here to inflict cruelty,' he said. 'They are hyper focused on getting her into this ambulance.'
Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Judge's furious blast at the thug cops who stomped on the face of a naked woman and PEPPER-SPRAYED her genitals before sharing vile video of the brutal attack: 'Gratuitous cruelty'
Two cops who kicked and stomped on a naked woman and pepper-sprayed her genitals now face up to 12 years in jail after a judge blasted their 'gratuitious' violence. Nathan Black and Timothy John Trautsch pleaded guilty to assaulting the mentally ill woman during an arrest on January 22, 2023, then sent body-worn footage to a colleague, bragging: 'We caved her.' Judge Graham Turnbull told Penrith District Court that the act of pepper-spraying the woman's was 'gratuitous cruelty'. 'I struggle with what the possible reason was, beyond the intention to inflict gratuitous pain,' he told a sentencing hearing on Tuesday. The men launched the savage 18-minute assault after the woman was found nude and bathing in a puddle in an Emu Plains street in Sydney's west. The victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - had earlier been released from the nearby Amber Laurel Women's Correctional Centre. She had walked 300m to Smith Street, an industrial cul-de-sac lined with smash repair and auto shops, where she stripped naked, triggering the welfare check call to police. The court heard the woman, 48, had been given antipsychotic medication for her schizophrenia but had not taken it. Trautsch, then 27, and Black, then 26, attended the scene and attempted to get her into an ambulance to go to hospital, prior to the violent assault At one point, sitting naked on a grassy footpath, the woman told the officers: 'If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed.' After trying to handcuff the woman, she resisted by grabbing the cuffs and the officers responded with rapidly-escalating violence. The footage of what happened next is so confronting, NSW Police tried to get it suppressed for 60 years, purportedly to protect the woman from further trauma. But Judge Turnbull agreed to play the video, taken from body-worn cameras and CCTV, at their sentence hearing. The footage showed the woman being pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged by her hair, and punched while she sobbed and screamed at the men. 'God, make me strong. God, make me strong,' she said over and over. 'God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God.' The two officers struggled to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms, while spraying her six times with pepper spray. The woman was sprayed twice in the face, once on her back - already grazed from the rough road surface - and once on her genitals. At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and onto Nathan Black's leg. 'Wash your dirty stinky a***,' one of the officers was then heard saying. They discussed using a Taser and a long baton, with Trautsch visibly laughing. Black messaged a colleague about how they emptied two cans of pepper spray at the woman, boasting that 'the whole body-worn is so good, shows her being f***ed'. The woman died in unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. Judge Turnbull said one of the officers was 'gloating' about the footage. He said the pair had 'got to the stage where they are defecated on, a suggestion of bodily fluids, she is completely unable to recognise who they are. 'There's just the two of them. The circumstances got to that these two men just lost the plot.' Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney told the court that the two officers could simply have restrained the woman, noting she posed no threat to them, despite grabbing at the handcuffs. When the woman was eventually taken to Nepean Hospital, Black told medical staff, 'You have to do what you have to do.' The men were charged in March 2023 and suspended without pay. On Tuesday, the pair sat apart in the dock staring straight ahead, as Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney replayed the disturbing footage of the young men physically and verbally abusing the stricken woman. In urging Judge Turnbull to give the men long sentences, Mr Marney said it was an 'abuse of powers'. Instead of helping a woman subject to a welfare check, they had assaulted and berated her,' he said. Black has pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. The men face a maximum of 14 years for the charge of using a prohibited weapon without a permit, with a minimum of five years, but are entitled to a ten per cent discount for pleading guilty two weeks before they were due to stand trial. Judge Turnbull said both the use of pepper spray on the 48-year-old woman's wound and her genitals appeared deliberate. 'I see things with my own eyes. The video had the potential to speak for itself. (There) seems to be to be a spray almost deliberately towards the vagina,' he said. The judge expressed mild surprise that following the incident the two officers – who have since left the police force – charged the woman with two counts of assault. 'I have to say after four decades of experience, it is not uncommon in tight spots for people to be charged, or should I say, it does happen to deflect attention. 'The person becomes not just a victim but a defendant.' Judge Turnbull said that the victim's 'presentation was … pretty fearsome. It evolved' and that the initial response of the police 'reflected straight out threats of harm, standing in the middle of the street like a bull, in her florid psychotic state'. But he said that the 'way she's being struck and sprayed would increase her agitation, the way she's kicking out'. His Honour asked the men's legal counsel: 'Why didn't they give up and let her calm down for a minute? 'Isn't it part of the irony by exercising her powers in this way she has come to harm?' Neither now serve as NSW Police officers in the wake of the attack. There was a suggestion by the defence that Black had suffered a liver condition after being defecated on by the woman, but no evidence was presented at court. It was previously revealed that Black had taken legal action to sue NSW Police over 'psychological injury' and trauma from his time on the force. However NSW Police barrister David Baran last year told a court Black's claim for workers' compensation would be opposed. 'We say this injury is suffered from this horrific assault,' he added. 'Psychological trauma is based on this assault. He did what no police officer should do.'
Sky News AU
10-07-2025
- Sky News AU
Former NSW Police officers admit to bashing and pepper spraying naked, mentally ill woman in Sydney's west
Two former New South Wales police officers have pleaded guilty after repeatedly stomping on the head of a mentally ill woman and pepper straying her genitals, a court has heard. Former senior constables Timothy Trautsch, 30, and Nathan Black, 28, faced Penrith District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company, possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit and common assault. The pair were charged after they performed a welfare check on a 49-year-old woman, who is now deceased, in January 2023. The court heard the woman was in a 'state of psychosis' and ran away from the officers while naked through the streets of Emu Plains in Sydney's west. The woman reportedly grabbed Black's handcuffs which led the officers to deploy pepper spray on her body as she laid on the ground unarmed. The incident was recorded on officers' body worn footage and CCTV from a nearby building. The footage played in court showed the woman sitting on grass, swearing and threatening Black and Trautsch. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," the victim told the officers. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Video footage then showed the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked in the head twice, dragged, punched, sprayed six times with pepper spray, in the face and once on her back, which was grazed after falling onto the road. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court heard. At one stage, the footage showed the woman defecating on the road with Black telling her to wash her 'dirty, stinky a**' while giving her baby wipes. 'Go on, wash your c***, wash your a**, go on wash it out,' Black said to the woman. "What the f*** is going on here hey." The two men discussed using a taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers chose violence instead of restraining the woman or just talking to her, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Mr Marney added the woman's attempt to grab the handcuffs did not justify her being kicked in the head. In addition to the offences tied to the incident itself, Black was also charged with two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a Facebook Messenger exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. 'Both OC cans emptied on her. Was f***ed,' he wrote. 'She was f**ked the whole body worn is so good shows her being f***ed. 'Nurses are lodging a complaint (senior officer) is investigating because we caved her, but she had a hold of the cuffs and we had no other options.' Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The pair will return to court for hearings on July 15.
The Advertiser
10-07-2025
- The Advertiser
'God, please': sobs as cops beat naked woman
A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. "You have to do what you have to do," one of officers, senior constable Nathan Black, told medical staff later when the schizophrenic woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. "God, make me strong. God, make me strong," she said over and over. "God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God." At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. "Wash your dirty stinky arse," one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. "The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed," he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. "You have to do what you have to do," one of officers, senior constable Nathan Black, told medical staff later when the schizophrenic woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. "God, make me strong. God, make me strong," she said over and over. "God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God." At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. "Wash your dirty stinky arse," one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. "The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed," he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. "You have to do what you have to do," one of officers, senior constable Nathan Black, told medical staff later when the schizophrenic woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. "God, make me strong. God, make me strong," she said over and over. "God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God." At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. "Wash your dirty stinky arse," one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. "The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed," he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. "You have to do what you have to do," one of officers, senior constable Nathan Black, told medical staff later when the schizophrenic woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. "God, make me strong. God, make me strong," she said over and over. "God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God." At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. "Wash your dirty stinky arse," one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. "The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed," he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Perth Now
10-07-2025
- Perth Now
'God, please': sobs as cops beat naked, psychotic woman
A naked woman having a psychotic episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. "You have to do what you have to do," one of officers, senior constable Nathan Black, told medical staff later when the schizophrenic woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. "If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching," she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. "You don't know about the aliens, do you?" Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. "That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor," crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. "God, make me strong. God, make me strong," she said over and over. "God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God." At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. "Wash your dirty stinky arse," one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. "It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation," he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. "The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed," he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
