- This is not a story for the faint of heart. You’ve been warned.
There’s nothing wrong with mild body modification — you know, a piercing here or a tattoo there. But as with so many other things, it can go much too far.
Three U.K. men were recently handed prison sentences in a gruesome case concerning a subculture revolving around extreme self-mutilation.
A fair warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of grievous bodily harm that some may find disturbing.
Damien Byrnes, Nathaniel Arnold, and Jacob Crimi-Appleby received years-long jail terms for the mutilation of Marius Gustavson. Among other things, they cut off Gustavson’s genitals and froze his leg to the point of requiring amputation.
But the most bizarre and horrendous part of the story is that Gustavson “readily agreed” to everything, prosecutors told a British court. Not only that, he paid the other men to carry out the… Shall we say “procedures.”
Are you still with us? Let’s get to horrific details, then.
The ‘Eunuch Maker’
Gustavson, 46, used to run an unusual business, to say the least. His self-professed title was the “Eunuch Maker.”
He was part of an extreme subculture of men who seek to become “nullos,” that is, individuals who have gone through “genital nullification.” It is exactly what it sounds like — the process involved total removal of the penis and testicles.
Naturally, sound medical procedures are rarely part of the “operation.”
Gustavson reportedly ran a website hosting pay-per-view videos of men undergoing the nullo process and other bodily mutilations. He didn’t just post the videos online, though, but also created them.
In a separate lawsuit, Gustavson has been charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, according to the BBC. According to prosecutor Caroline Carberry, the acts Gustavson carried out include the total removal of men’s genitals, either with a knife or cutting off blood flow until gangrene set in.
But it seems Gustavson wasn’t satisfied with cutting apart others. He also wanted it for himself.
‘Won’t You Lose a Lot of Blood?’
The other trio of men involved in the case were all hired by Gustavson to commit unspeakable acts to himself. First of them was the 36-year-old male escort Byrnes, who in December 2016 agreed to cut off Gustavson’s genitals with a kitchen knife.
According to Carberry, Gustavson filmed the whole process. On the video, Byrnes expresses some concern before the procedure, saying: “I have no issue with it but won’t you lose a lot of blood, like nearly die?”
Gustavson, however, tells him that he will be anesthetized and securely tied down. He also gives Byrne detailed instructions on what to do.
We won’t go into more detail. Let’s just Byrnes followed the instructions.
Initially, Gustavson had agreed to pay Byrnes nearly $650. Afterward, however, he gave Byrnes only a tenth of that amount.
Following some blackmail and threats from both sides, Gustavson finally ended up paying Byrnes almost $2,000 over two years for the honor of getting to be the one to mutilate him.
A Bucket of Ice
Arnold, 48, helped Byrnes carry out the genital mutilation process on Gustavson. According to Sky News, the ex-nurse had had his own genitals removed earlier and now supplied Gustavson with anesthetics stolen from the hospital where he worked.
In the summer of 2019, Arnold performed another procedure on Gustavson. Carberry told the court that Arnold cut off a part of Gustavson’s nipple with a medical scalpel.
Finally, we have Crimi-Appleby. His part in this horrific mess happened in February 2019.
Gustavson hired Crimi-Appleby, 23, to help him freeze his leg for yet another video to put on his website. In the footage they shot, Gustavson sits with his leg in a bucket of dry ice, with Crimi-Appleby pouring more in as needed.
In case you don’t know what dry ice does to living tissue… Well, it’s not pretty. The incident damaged Gustavson’s leg so badly that it had to be amputated.
Following the loss of his leg, Gustavson ended up in a wheelchair. Since he was now legally disabled, he proceeded to claim nearly $23,000 in disability benefits.
Remorse and Mitigating Circumstances
Although the mutilations happened years ago, the sentences in the case were only recently handed out. Each of the three accused men expressed regret at the trial and said they were ashamed and disgusted by what they’d done.
The court did agree some of the men had mitigating circumstances. Crimi-Appleby had been a victim of abuse in his youth and had been “seduced” by Gustavson’s manipulation after meeting him online.
Arnold, on the other hand, was found to have been mentally unwell. The court accepted he had been in a hypomanic phase of his bipolar disorder at the time of the incidents.
In the end, Byrnes received a five-year prison sentence, while Crimi-Appleby was sent to jail for three years and eight months. Arnold was handed a suspended two-year prison term.
Now, if you’ll excuse us. We think we need some fresh air.