Nathan Black departs Penrith District Court at Sydney, Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Share and Follow

Warning: This story contains details and content that some readers may find distressing.

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.

Nathan Black departs Penrith District Court at Sydney, Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Nathan Black was one of two police officers who assaulted a naked woman having a psychotic episode. (AAP Image/Miklos Bolza)

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 today 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.

Timothy Trautsch departs Penrith District Court at Sydney, Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Timothy Trautsch pleaded guilty to five charges related to the assault. (AAP Image/Miklos Bolza)

“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, 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, 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.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

Share and Follow
You May Also Like
Fourteen of the victims of the Bondi attack (clockwise from top left): Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Dan Elkayam, Matilda, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Edith Brutman, Adam Smyth, Boris Tetleroyd, Marika Pogany, Peter Meagher, Alex Kleytman, Tibor Weitzen, Reuven Morrison.

Finding Light in Darkness: Inspiring Message Offers Hope Amidst Challenging Times

Australia is still reeling from the Bondi shooting on Sunday night but…

Unraveling the Misinformation Frenzy: The Bondi Attack’s Viral Cricket Shirts and Bogus Hanson Quotes

The following story contains images some readers may find distressing. Almost as…
Vanessa Tadros, a 36-year-old from Sydney, was killed along with three other people in one of Australia's worst air disasters in January 2023.

Sea World Accident: Survivors Gear Up for Legal Battle Over Injuries

A teenage boy whose mother was killed in the Sea World helicopter…
Accused Melbourne CBD stabber Lauren Darul.

Bail Revoked for CBD Stabbing Suspect Just Two Days After Release

An accused stabber’s bail has been revoked, two days after he was…
Queensland Police released a photo of Kai Fursey, who they want to speak to about the deadly Wacol Uber crash.

Man Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison for Fatal Hit-and-Run Incident

A man convicted of car theft will spend at least seven years…
'I accept my responsibility': Albanese makes raw admission on Bondi attack

Albanese Acknowledges Responsibility in Candid Statement on Bondi Incident

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accepted responsibility and admitted more could have…

Government Launches Initiative to Address Antisemitic and Racist Views in Migration Process

The federal government will review the country’s migration laws in the wake…
Incredible moment heroic bystanders chase after 'street thief' and pin him to the floor in Camden

Brave Bystanders Nab Alleged Thief in Dramatic Camden Chase

In a dramatic turn of events on one of London’s most bustling…