'Inconvenient truth' body modder's last bid to be cleared in genital mutilation trial
A judge must now decide if the evidence of a woman, who police say is the victim of a genital mutilation surgery allegedly performed by two NSW body modifiers, is that of a "proven liar" or a "traumatised" witness.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Ben Roberts-Smith fights for 'vindication' in open court
- ‘Crazy’: Five months on, Cobargo remains in ruins
The fate of a famed body modifier, accused of helping to mutilate a woman’s labia, now hangs in the balance as a court decides whether he is guilty of a “traumatising” crime or if his alleged victim is a "proven liar".
Howard Rollins, better known in the underground body modification scene as Luna Cobra, shot to prominence as a pioneer of eyeball tattooing.
But police say he had helped another well-known modifier, Brendan Russell, perform an illegal labia “excision” on a woman using a cauterising tool in January 2015.
MORE NEWS
Why Red Cross is sitting on $127 million of bushfire funding
Olsen family feud: stepdaughter in court over $2.2m gift
‘No answers’: Family mystified by alleged DV murder
Russell has pleaded not guilty to the mutilation and will face trial later this year while the trial for Rollins, who pleaded not guilty to being an accessory in the mutilation, wrapped up on Tuesday.
Their alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Rollins’ trial she was left in pain and distressed after the pair took what she called “a branding iron” to her genitalia.
The alleged victim was explosive on the stand - clashing with both the police prosecutor and Rollins’ barrister, Margaret Cunneen SC, while being questioned.
Closing her case on Tuesday, prosecutor Georgia Turner said the woman’s “distress” and “defensive” behaviour on the stand could be attributable to the trauma visited on her by the alleged illegal surgery.
“All of it was deeply personal for her… and she found it difficult to be probed about it,” Ms Turner said.
The woman had screamed at Ms Cunneen on Monday after being accused of lying about sending images of her daughter and grandmother to Rollins’ then-girlfriend.
The defence, in part, was claiming the woman enjoyed a friendly relationship with the partner of the man she now accuses of helping to harm her.
Their relationship dissolved on bad terms, the defence says, but the alleged victim said she never knew Rollins’ girlfriend, who she called “the thing”.
“What is the significance of that?,” Ms Turner asked of the woman’s angry reaction and denials.
“What has it got to do with this operation? The crown says it is not of great significance or consequence at all and, in all the circumstances, her reactions are understandable and would not, or should not, reflect upon her credibility and reliability.”
The prosecutor said the woman had “always been consistent” about Rollins’ role in the procedure.
“The entire experience she’s had here, from start to finish, and until now has been extremely traumatising, she’s been in pain, it’s been a really bad experience,” Ms Turner said.
“It’s clear from her evidence and the emails in evidence in this trial… and from pure common sense that (she) has been significantly traumatised by this incident.”
But Ms Cunneen, in her own closing address, denounced the woman as “a person unable to be truthful about almost anything.”
She tried to “write out” people who could contradict her evidence by saying she didn’t know them, the defence said.
“It was untruthful, it was an indication of how she deals with the inconvenient truth - this woman was not only deliberately deceptive but she was also affected by valium on the morning of the procedure.”
Ms Cunneen said the investigation into her client was very limited and didn’t test any of the allegations. And when an investigator drew the woman’s attention to Rollins - in her mind - his role “grew and grew”.
The defence drew up a list of 34 “inconsistencies and contradictions” in the woman’s evidence to give to the judge.
“We only have the word of a liar - a proven liar - to implicate Howard Rollins,” Ms Cunneen said.
The court, on Monday, heard Rollins had actually turned on Russell in 2016 and, with the help of another tattooist, had contacted health authorities and even NSW Police.
The tattooist told the court he was worried someone may die and Rollins shared his concerns for the public.
“It is clear (Rollins) took part in the whistleblowing exercise,” Ms Cunneen said.
“It is most unfortunate that the warnings sounded by (the pair) were not taken up by some government authority as we’ve heard someone did die after a procedure by Mr Russell.”
That was a reference to a young mother who died in April 2017, allegedly after Russell implanted a snowflake beneath the skin in her hand.
Russell was charged with her manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty - he will face trial for that later this year.
Judge Ian Bourke will hand down his decision on Rollins’ trial next Tuesday.