A body moderator sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter after implanting a silicon snowflake into a young woman’s hands became contaminated.
Brendan Leigh Russell was given a non-parole period of at least seven years and six months in prison by Judge Helen Syme on Monday in the NSW District Court because she found that he had never expressed any regret, acceptance, or responsibility for his client’s death.
Russell, according to Judge Syme, lacks the competence to carry out frequently illegal surgeries in unsanitary settings without the necessary anesthesia or follow-up care.
One of his victims, age 30, who underwent the implantation surgery on March 20, 2017, in his parlor on the NSW Central Coast, referred to the 41-year-old as a “god.”
The woman underwent a second treatment on April 10 during which he reopened the wound, realigned the implant, and stitched it shut despite blood and pus pouring out and the dark discoloration of her hand.
He suggested that people use painkillers rather than visiting a doctor.
The judge declared, “Had she obtained urgent medical advice even at that time, she had a good possibility of survival.”
There is no other inference that can be made other than that he was more concerned with maintaining his reputation as a body modifier and advancing his business than with her well-being.
The level of pain and infection (she was in) could be seen by an untrained and indifferent onlooker… It is incomprehensible that the criminal did not.
Russell once more reassured her not to worry, to take her medication, and that he would see her the following day on the evening before she passed away from sepsis brought on by the infection.
At his sentencing hearing in June, his victim’s mother stated that she thought a monster had been taken off the streets after he was found guilty of killing her.
“My daughter is gone, the mother of (a child) is dead, and Brendan Russell has never once expressed even the tiniest regret or taken ownership of his actions.”
‘If (she) was here she would say ‘I trusted him’.’
His November 2016 abdominoplasty, often known as a “tummy tuck,” on a 38-year-old woman was quasi-medical and “obviously risky,” and he was also found guilty of purposely causing severe bodily damage.
One hour after arriving home, the woman awoke in excruciating pain and was gushing blood.
The judge concluded that when he inserted the scalpel back into the wound while “showing off mid-procedure,” he most likely punctured her abdominal wall.
The woman expressed regret that their paths had ever crossed and regretted having trusted a so-called friend and professional.
In Newcastle, England, in January 2015, he was also given a sentence for a third allegation of female genital mutilation after using a branding iron during a treatment that left the woman unable to use tampons or put on underwear without pain.
According to defense attorney Mark Tedeschi QC, the judge should give careful consideration to the consent of the parties.
In the case of manslaughter and great bodily harm, the judge determined that the victim’s trust that Russell would safely carry out the treatments was the reason for her permission.
The trust that resulted in the assent was “driven by his hubris.”
On March 14, 2029, he will be first eligible for parole.