Family 'gutted' as sentences cut for police officers who assaulted woman

Two former police officers who violently assaulted a mentally ill woman have had their prison sentences reduced, leaving her family deeply upset. The assault, which involved dragging the woman by her hair, kicking and stomping on her, and repeatedly pepper spraying her while she was experiencing psychosis, has been described as showing a "shocking lack of humanity."

Jodi Knott, the victim, died of cancer 18 months after the 2023 attack. Both men, Nathan Black and Timothy Trautsch, were originally jailed in August 2025 for the assault, with Black's maximum sentence cut from five years and nine months to three years and two months, and Trautsch's reduced from five years and six months to three years.

They became eligible for parole in August 2027. The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal upheld that the misuse of pepper spray by the officers was gratuitously cruel, but ruled that the finding of gratuitous cruelty regarding the assault was an error, as the brutality had already been factored into the seriousness of the crime, potentially leading to double counting.

The judges emphasized that the officers displayed a "shocking lack of humanity" towards Ms. Knott. The court found that the officers' impatience, failure to seek assistance, and lack of understanding of psychosis did not justify the gratuitous cruelty. The NSW government has since introduced a new health-led response model for mental health emergencies, following the ABC Four Corners investigation and the victims' calls for reform.