Nine men have been charged after allegedly livestreaming footage of penis and testicle amputations for a paying audience, according to reports.
Marius Gustavson, 45, along with others, is alleged to have performed extreme body modifications, before broadcasting the footage on his “eunuch maker” website.
The procedures were filmed and uploaded to the macabre website he ran, and subscribers would pay to watch, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday (March 22).
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Gustavson, who is originally from Norway, is accused of being the ringleader in a wide-ranging conspiracy, involving up to 29 offences of extreme body modifications, the removal of body parts, the trade in body parts and the uploading of videos.
My London reported that the six-year plot is said to have brought in some £200,000 in income.
Gustavson, from Tottenham, North London, was charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent between January 1, 2016, and January 1 last year and five counts of causing GBH to five alleged victims.
The GBH charges include the removal of a man’s penis, the clamping of another’s testicles and freezing of a leg, which required amputation.
He is further charged with acquiring or possessing criminal property, making an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child.
The court heard Gustavson, who appeared in the dock in a wheelchair, has had his own leg, penis and nipple removed.
He appeared alongside Peter Wates, 65, from Croydon, in South London, who is charged with conspiracy to cause GBH with intent.
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Wates is alleged to have been involved with nine of the 29 incidents while Romanian national Ion Ciucur, 28, who works in a hotel in Gretna Green, Scotland, is said to have been involved in two.
Nathan Arnold, 47, from South Kensington, West London, Damien Byrnes, 35, also from Tottenham, and Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom in Surrey, also appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday each charged with a single offence of causing GBH with intent.
Arnold is alleged to have removed Gustavson’s nipple, Byrnes is accused of removing his penis and Crimi-Appleby is accused of freezing his leg requiring amputation. They will also appear at the Old Bailey with their co-defendants next month.
All of the alleged victims are said to have been part of a society in which people willingly undergo extreme body modification.
The practice is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.