A Central Coast body modification artist found guilty over the death of a young mother in a botched cosmetic procedure has tearfully pleaded to be let out of prison so he can hold his newborn son.
Brendan Leigh Russell, 39, is facing up to 25 years in jail after he was last year found guilty over a string of serious offences including manslaughter.
Russell is awaiting sentencing and is due to appear before the District Court in early March where he will learn his fate having also been found guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and female genital mutilation.
The charges related to procedures performed on three separate women, including two at his studio at Erina Fair Shopping Centre on the Central Coast, between 2015 and 2017.
He on Monday appeared before the NSW Supreme Court arguing he should be freed on bail, claiming he had suffered mental and physical torment as a result of conditions in prison.
Russell tearfully gave evidence before Justice Michael Walton where he described conditions in custody.
He said that of the 11 weeks he has been behind bars, he had only been allowed out of his cell and into the prison yard for two-and-a-half weeks.
He also said he had not met his newborn son and only had a black and white photo of him.
He also said that he had not had access to his antidepressant medication for five weeks, although he noted that on Monday morning he had been given his medication again.
He had also previously been placed in isolation after contractingxjmtzyw COVID-19 and had been given limited phone calls with his wife.
“I feel isolated,” Russell said, shedding tears as he gave evidence from Parklea Correctional Facility.
“I haven’t met my son. It’s constant anxiety.
“When I had Covid they didn’t give you any panadol or anything. So you’re in pain and locked away in a room.
“Serious mental health … There were a couple of times there where I didn’t want to proceed with my life anymore.”
Russell, who went by the name BSlice in the body modification industry, was also found guilty of removing part of a woman’s labia with a branding iron and performing a botched tummy tuck on another woman.
He had pleaded not guilty, arguing he was not responsible for the side effects experienced by the women, but was in November found guilty of the three charges following a judge-alone trial before Judge Helen Syme in the NSW District Court.
The manslaughter charge related to a young mother – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – who was found dead inside her Central Coast home after having a synthetic snowflake implant inserted into her hand by Russell.
Two days before her death, she returned to Russell’s studio where she complained she was experiencing pain because of an infection.
He removed the implant, cleaned the wound before re-inserting it, the court previously heard.
Judge Syme accepted the crown’s argument that she died due to septicaemia and Russell breached his duty of care
During his trial, the woman’s mother and neighbour said they saw the wound before her death and that it had turned green and yellow and ballooned to three times its normal size.
The night before she died, she again called Russell complaining about the pain, however he told her to take some painkillers and to go to bed, the court previously heard.
He arranged for him to see her at 9am the next day, however she never made the appointment.
Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys opposed Russell’s bail application on Monday, arguing that conditions in custody had improved as the current outbreak caused by the Omicron variants subsided.
“His conditions in custody are largely as a result of the pandemic and the authorities are undertaking to address those matters,” Ms Jeffreys said.
“They are matters which are in control of the authorities and it does appear that the peak of the latest outbreak does appear to be arriving. So while there is still uncertainty, there is reason to believe that there will be improvement as time goes on.”
Justice Walton will hand down his decision on Russell’s bail application on Monday afternoon.
