LONDON — The ringleader of an extreme body modification conspiracy who cut off men's genitals and uploaded videos to his "Eunuch Maker" website was jailed for a minimum of 22 years in a London court on Friday (May 10).
Norwegian Marius Gustavson was involved in several highly dangerous procedures which included removing the penis or testicles of men who had consented, British prosecutors said.
The practise is linked to a subculture of men seeking to become so-called "nullos", short for genital nullification, by having their penis or testicles removed.
Some of the procedures were filmed and the footage uploaded to Gustavson's pay-per-view website, which had nearly 23,000 users and made more than US$300,000 (S$406,050) between 2017 and 2021.
Gustavson pleaded guilty last year to 13 offences, including conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, causing grievous bodily harm, and possessing criminal property relating to the money made from the website.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry said that all the men who were subjected to the operations had consented to the amputations.
But, as a person cannot legally consent to the infliction of an injury causing bodily harm, the procedures amounted to a criminal offence even with consent.
Carberry also said that many of the victims were vulnerable and had been put under pressure by Gustavson and his co-defendants.
Gustavson himself willingly had his penis cut off at his London home in 2017 and later had his left leg amputated after deliberately submerging it in dry ice in 2019. Two men were jailed in January for their part in those procedures.
Prosecutors said Gustavson kept some amputated body parts in his freezer and that messages suggested he had offered some for sale.
Gustavson was "very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise", Judge Mark Lucraft said, adding that some of the procedures were "little more than human butchery".
He was sentenced at the Old Bailey court on Thursday alongside six other men, four of whom had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
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