‘Body modifier’ Brendan Russell appeals convictions over fatal ‘snowflake,’ genital mutilation procedures

The lawyer for a man jailed for a botched “snowflake” procedure which killed a woman has suggested an entirely different cause of death in court.

A self-proclaimed “extreme body modifier” jailed for performing a botched “snowflake” procedure that killed a woman has argued a cocktail of drugs found in her body could have been the real cause of death.

Brendan Leigh Russell, 42, is appealing to overturn his convictions after being found guilty for manslaughter, female genital mutilation and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.

The 2021 trial heard the NSW woman, who considered Russell a “god,” died from septicemia after Russell implanted a silicon snowflake in her hand in his Central Coast tattoo parlour on March 20, 2017.

Three weeks later, Russell, who has never held a medical qualification, reopened the wound to reposition the implant despite an obvious infection arising.

A 30-year-old woman died after Russell implanted a snowflake into her hand.

In delivering her verdict in November 2021, Judge Helen Syme found that shortly before her death, Russell discouraged the woman from seeking professional help, instead telling her to take painkillers as he would see her the next day.

She ruled Russell did the procedures without the correct hygienic measures or aftercare and sentenced him to an aggregate term of 10 years in prison, with a non-parole period of seven years and six months.

But at an appeal hearing in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday, Russell’s lawyer Mark Tedeschi KC said the woman saw two medical professionals the day before her death to seek painkillers for headaches, not a painful hand.

He told the court a medical expert told the trial a woman was found with a cocktail of drugs in her system at the time of her death, including anti-depressants, codeine, morphine, blood pressure drugs and opioids.

Russell arrives at the Downing Centre Court during his 2021 trial. Picture: NCA NewsWire/James Gourley

The court heard there were 11 Lyrica tablets missing from a dose prescribed the day earlier, though the drug did not show up in the toxicology report because it could not be tested for at the time.

Referencing the toxicology report, Mr Tedeschi said she “no doubt hand an infected hand” but it was only “possible ... by no means certain” septicemia caused her death.

“Many pathological and autopsy findings that would normally be found from a sepsis death were absent,” he said, adding one medical expert told the trial drug toxicity “couldn’t be excluded as the sole cause of death”.

“The totality of evidence should have raised significant doubt,” he said.

Two other victims were the subject of Russell’s offending, including one woman who was left in extreme pain and unable to wear underwear or use tampons after she had her labia burned and partially excised, the trial heard.

Russell was well-known for performing metal implants, ear cutting, belly button removal and scarification. Picture: Instagram

A third woman woke in agonising pain with a bleeding stomach after Russell performed a “tummy tuck” on her.

Russell faced Monday’s appeal hearing from prison via audiovisual link, wearing prison greens.

Referencing the labia procedure, Mr Tedeschi argued the specific offence his client was convicted of — female genital mutilation — relates only to “ritualistic acts performed on children”.

“The evidence (of two doctors at trial) was that these operations are frequently performed,” he told the court.

A hand implant Brendan Russell claimed he had performed. Picture: Facebook

Moving onto the “tummy tuck,” Russell’s lawyer called the case’s circumstances “so unusual” because the charge of grievous bodily harm with the acknowledgement of consent was “such a rare occurrence”.

He agreed grievous bodily harm was clearly caused, but argued the procedure was “precisely what the complainant wished to be done”.

“We submit it was abundantly clear the complainant was well aware of the nature of the procedure; she was training to become a nurse herself, was advised against the procedure by a friend who was a qualified nurse, thought about it for some considerable time (and) knew exactly what was she was asking the appellant to do”.

Mr Tedeschi argued that the level of consent given satisfied criminal law.

Russell is appealing his convictions relating to three former patients. Picture: Instagram

Referencing previous cases, Russell’s lawyer told the court Judge Syme should have taken into account “personal autonomy” and the patient’s “awareness of risks”.

“What this court is being asked to do is say that sane adults cannot legally elect to have a body modification procedure ... performed by a person other than a registered medical practitioner or a dentist,” he said.

Before his arrest in 2018, Russell was a well-known piercer and “body modifier” in Newcastle and the NSW Central Coast region, regularly performing metal implants, ear cutting, belly button removal and scarification.

The hearing continues before Chief Justice Andrew Scott Bell, Justice Kristina Stern and Justice Natalie Adams.