Woman had labia allegedly burned off by body modders: court hears
A court has heard a woman who allegedly had her labia burned off with a "branding iron" was exiled from the "underground cult" of body modifiers. WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
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A woman who had her labia sliced off says Australia’s body modification scene was like an underground cult with one prominent modifier, who allegedly took a “branding iron” to her vagina, assuring her it would be a “cleansing experience”.
Some of the evidence, which emerged on the second day of a trial of the modifier’s co-accused, is so confronting the judge asked prosecutors to consider whether he needed to see it at all.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, detailed the extensive and painful legal work she had done on her body largely in a Newcastle tattoo and piercing parlour.
Her tongue has been split, she had ten piercings in her face, multiple silicone shapes implanted in her body, ear cartilage removal, tattoos and scarification – some done without anaesthetic.
She alleges the bulk of the work was done by Central Coast modifier Brendan Russell – who was known in the body modification community as BSlice.
“When you get body mods done it’s kind of like an underground cult so to speak,” she told the court on Wednesday.
“When I first started getting body mods (Russell) explained to me I was his client and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere else.”
She said there were only three people in NSW working in the industry, two of them are now fighting charges they mutilated parts of her vagina.
The woman said she met Russell in 2014 while getting a tattoo, she said he was a “creepy guy” hanging around the parlour who spoke to her about labia reductions.
She said he talked to her about the procedure on multiple occasions and eventually convinced her to have it done in the room he was working out of.
“(Russell) said to me it would be a cleansing experience and he would cut away parts of my vagina which I didn’t like,” she said.
But Russell wasn’t the only well-known figure in Australia’s body modification scene, Luna Cobra, real name Howard Russell, had tattooed the woman’s eyeballs.
The court previously heard he had verbally coached Russell through the labia “excision” in January 2015 that left the woman suffering physical pain and other long term problems.
Rollins is charged with being an accessory to the mutilation with Russell alleged to be the principal offender, both have pleaded not guilty.
The NSW District Court, on the second day of Rollins’ trial, heard the woman pursued Russell via email and messaging apps trying to get him to fix her “c***” because she was uncomfortable, in pain and didn’t like the look.
The police prosecutor, on Wednesday, asked the woman to look over images taken before and immediately after the alleged operation.
Judge Ian Bourke SC interjected, asking whether it was necessary for the witness to have to look at the images of her injuries – and questioned whether the court needed to have them tendered at all.
“This is very upsetting for her … if there’s no dispute this procedure was carried out why do I need to see these photographs?” he asked.
The woman responded, admitting she’d been “in shock” to see the pictures again, but wanted to “be brave” and encouraged the evidence to continue.
The court previously heard she described the tool Russell allegedly used on her as a “branding iron” but police say it was a Geiger cauterising unit, or something similar.
The woman, on Wednesday, said she was exiled from the body modding community as the relationship between herself and Russell soured over the alleged operation.
She went to the police in April 2017, first for domestic violence counselling and later to detectives.
Rollins’ barrister, Margaret Cunneen SC, is expected to cross-examine the woman tomorrow.
Her client denies being in the room during the procedure and denies assisting in any way.