Two men have been jailed after the leader of a pay-per-view “eunuch maker” website consented to having his dick cut off.
Marius Gustavson, the “mastermind” behind the extreme body-modification ring, offered Damien Byrnes £500 to chop off his member in 2016, after initially reaching out to Byrnes for his escort services.
Videos by VICE
According to the courts, Brynes “readily agreed” to perform the procedure on Gustavson, with the knowledge that the video footage would be uploaded to Gustavson’s money-making website. In the video, Byrnes was heard asking for a copy of the film, adding: “Well, that’s one off the bucket list.”
Shortly after, Gustavson told a 999 operator: “I tried to do some surgery on my cock”, and was referred to a psychiatric unit after being treated in hospital.
But wait! There’s more: Co-defendant and nurse Nathaniel Arnold admitted to stealing anaesthetic from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and removing Gustavson’s nipple in a separate procedure. During the trial, the prosecutor noted that Arnold was both a perpetrator of harm and a victim, having been subject to a genital mutilation procedure himself. He has since been struck off the nursing register.
Jacob Crimi-Appleby confessed to using dry ice to freeze Gustavson’s leg in early 2019, leading to an eight-hour hospital amputation. Gustavson has used a wheelchair since his discharge and claimed £18,500 in disability benefits between July 2019 and October 2021.
The pay-per-view site ran for five years. Subscribers could watch videos of extreme body modification, including “the removal of genitals and testicles [and the] clamping of testicles to the point of castration”, which was described as a “lucrative” activity by prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC.
Byrnes was jailed for five years and Crimi-Appleby was given three years and eight months in prison. Both pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent.
Gustavson is awaiting sentence in March for charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Ms Carberry added that although Gustavson “consented and encouraged” defendants’ participation, ultimately, they were “willing participants”.