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."
Mr 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.
Much of the attack was captured on bodyworn and CCTV footage.
"The events are shocking," sentencing judge Graham Turnbull said.
"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.
The video evidence of the officers "is hard to watch, we acknowledge that," Black's barrister Simon Buchen SC said on Wednesday.
"What they did went beyond the reasonable circumstances," he said.
However, he argued Judge Turnbull inappropriately analysed the officer's criminal acts.
An act of gratuitous cruelty could only apply if the officer's sole intention was to inflict pain and that was not the case, Mr Buchen said.
"There is conduct by the police officers to gain the upper hand ... to transport her to the mental health facility," he said.
The officers had feces and menstrual blood smeared on them throughout the process, Mr Strickland said.
"She was belligerent, she was abusive", he said.
"To put oneself in their position, it must have been extremely difficult.
"The sentences are clearly outside the range".
The sacked officers watched the appeal via video link from prison.
Judgement was reserved to a later date.
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