Body modifier Brendan Russell granted bail with “most stringent” conditions
A BODY modifier charged with mutilating a woman’s genitalia, an alleged botched “tummy tuck” and the manslaughter of another client has been granted bail after spending just over three weeks in custody.
Central Coast
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- Brendan Russell faces court over the death of a young mum
- Body modifier charged with mutilating a woman’s genitalia
A BODY modifier charged with mutilating a woman’s genitalia, an alleged botched “tummy tuck” and the manslaughter of another client has been granted bail after spending just over three weeks in custody.
A court has heard Brendan Leigh Russell will have to abide by “the most stringent” bail conditions amounting to “home detention” including that he move to Port Macquarie, not access the internet or any social media platform, not possess a smart phone or go within 500m of a tattoo parlour or body modification shop.
He will also have to report twice daily to Port Macquarie police and not leave the house without his mother, even to pop down to the shops for a “bottle of milk”.
The 37-year-old appeared via video link at a release application at Gosford Local Court today where his solicitor Ahmed Dib said the charges, while extremely serious, did not technically fall under “show cause” bail laws.
He said Mr Russell would abide by any conditions imposed by the court and that by moving with his mother to Port Macquarie he would no longer be a risk of interfering with witnesses or evidence.
Mr Dib said Mr Russell needed access to mental health medication he was taking before he was arrested last month, that he had been placed in protective custody and the court proceedings would encounter significant delays because of the complexity of the allegations and the subsequent police investigation.
However the Crown Prosecutor argued against bail, telling the court the strong prosecution case meant Mr Russell was an unacceptable “flight risk”, he was known to intimidate people and would be made aware of more witnesses in the coming weeks when police began to serve their full brief of evidence against him.
In the end Magistrate Alex Mijovich granted bail because the “risks can be mitigated” by the stringent conditions in which Mr Russell’s mother deposits an amount of $10,000 surety and “is prepared, in effect, to spend 24 hours a day” with him.
Mr Russell was charged with using a branding iron to allegedly burn off a 33-year-old woman’s labia major in Newcastle West some time in 2016.
It is understood the woman went to Mr Russell for a procedure at a tattoo parlour but later made a formal complaint to police.
He is also charged with the manslaughter death of Samantha Hegyi, who had gone back to him with a severe infection after he inserted a “snowflake” implant into the back of it using anaesthetics, scalpels and other medical equipment.
Police allege the woman called him on April 11 last year and arranged to come into his Erina shop Transition and complained of the pain to a neighbour who told her to go to hospital.
Her seven-year-old daughter found Ms Hegyi dead at their Toowoon Bay home the following day.
At a previous appearance, a court heard Mr Russell accepted $800 to perform a “tummy tuck” on a woman who was “nervous” about the procedure.
“He indicated at the time he had done heaps of them,” Magistrate Bruce Williams said on August 14.
“The victim ended up being in horrific pain and started bleeding that night.
“He told her to take Nurofen and remove the compressive bandage.
“The accused told her it was just the body’s way of healing.”
The 38-year-old woman ended up in hospital where doctors discovered her stomach muscles had been severed, allegedly by Mr Russell trying to remove excess skin, and she was left with a hole the size of a 5c coin.
Magistrate Mijovich today adjourned the matter to October 12.