A self-proclaimed extreme body modification artist has been sentenced to 10 years in jail over the death of a NSW woman he discouraged from seeking medical help for an infected implant.
In 2021 following a judge-alone trial, Brendan Leigh Russell was found guilty in the NSW District Court of manslaughter, female genital mutilation and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.
The offences relate to procedures on three separate women at a Central Coast studio between 2015 and 2017, including one who died from septicaemia after Russell inserted a snowflake-shaped implant in her right hand.
The court heard one of the other women had her labia excised, and experienced pain for 12 months following the procedure, which made her unable to use tampons or wear underwear.
Another woman had to get corrective surgery after the offender removed what Judge Helen Syme called a "large sausage shaped portion of fat" from her abdomen.
"Common sense suggests anyone would understand cutting a large piece of flesh from a person's body is dangerous, " Judge Syme said.
"There is no evidence the offender believed otherwise."
Russell appeared before the court via audio-visual link, wearing prison greens and emotionless to the proceedings, occasionally sipping from a bottle of water.
Judge Syme told the court that Russell was "a self-proclaimed extreme body modification artist" that "was not registered as a health practitioner".
Judge Syme said the procedures conducted on the three victims were undertaken without proper hygienic procedures in place, or aftercare.
She told the court she would not "speculate" if consent was given between the victim and offender in relation to the charge of genital mutilation but found consent had been given between the two remaining victims on the other two charges.
However, Judge Syme found that Russell's actions in relation to the deceased "were grossly negligent from start to finish" and there was "ample evidence of his hubris in general".
She also said Russell "expressed no remorse or responsibility" for his crimes in general and there was a "significant breach of trust" towards each victim.
Judge Syme rejected the notion that media publicity on the case had caused "extra curial punishment" to the offender, and hoped the case would be "widely reported" in an effort to deter further crimes of that nature.
Russell was sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment of 10 years, with a non-parole period of seven years and six months.
Several members of Russell's family and friends appeared in court, with some of them crying during sentencing remarks.
One of the family members gasped when they heard Russell would be sentenced to prison full-time and while others remained behind after it had concluded to try and catch the attention of the offender before he exited the screen.
