Two men were jailed in a London court on Monday for helping the owner of an extreme body modification video Web site to have his penis and a leg removed.
Marius Gustavson willingly had his penis cut off at his London home in 2017 and uploaded the footage to his pay-per-view “Eunuch Maker” Web site.
The 46-year-old also had his left leg amputated after deliberately submerging his leg in dry ice in 2019.
Damien Byrnes, 36, pleaded guilty in April last year to causing grievous bodily harm by cutting off Gustavson’s penis. Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, pleaded guilty in May last year to causing grievous bodily harm by helping Gustavson freeze his leg so an amputation was necessary.
Judge Mark Lucraft on Monday sentenced Byrnes to five years in jail, and Crimi-Appleby to three years and eight months, describing their actions as “abhorrent.”
Gustavson himself pleaded guilty in October last year to offenses including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and causing grievous bodily harm. He is to be sentenced in March.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry told the Old Bailey Gustavson was the “mastermind of a lucrative extreme body modification enterprise” and removed several people’s penis or testicles.
He was a “willing victim” and actively encouraged those who helped in his own amputations, she said.
However, as a person cannot legally consent to the infliction of an injury causing bodily harm, the procedures amount to a criminal offense even with Gustavson’s consent.
The practice is linked to a subculture of men seeking to become so-called “nullos,” short for genital nullification, by having their penis or testicles removed.
Carberry said Gustavson boasted to the man who cut off his penis that he had castrated more than a dozen men, and told the man who helped him remove his leg that he “kept the testicles he removed in jars.”
People paid a subscription to access the Web site. It was not clear how big the audience was or how much money the site made, but Lucraft said it “generated considerable interest and significant financial gains.”
Another man, Nathaniel Arnold, 48, had pleaded guilty to cutting off Gustavson’s nipple and stealing lidocaine from a hospital at which he worked as a nurse. He was given a two-year suspended jail sentence.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long