A body modifier accused of using a branding iron to burn off part of a woman’s vagina has been arrested over the death of another female customer.
Brendan Russell, 37, was taken into custody on Monday after Samantha Strickland, 30, was found dead by her seven-year-old daughter at their NSW Central Coast home in April last year.
A post mortem found she died of septicaemia, caused by an infection to her right hand.
Ms Strickland had undergone body modification surgery and had a ‘plastic snowflake’ implanted in her hand three weeks prior to her death, police allege.
Brendan Russell, a body modifier accused of using a branding iron to burn off part of a woman’s vagina, has been arrested over the death of another female customer
Samantha Strickland, 30, was found dead by her seven-year-old daughter at their NSW Central Coast home in April last year
Russell has been taken to Gosford Police Station and is being questioned by detectives.
He is already facing a charge of prohibition of female genital mutilation.
Police allege a 33-year-old woman ‘engaged the modifier to perform a procedure at a business in Newcastle West in 2016’.
Sometime after the procedure was carried out, the woman lodged a formal complaint with police.
Ms Strickland posted this photograph to Instagram, showing the procedure she had before she died
Russell has been taken to Gosford Police Station and is being questioned by detectives
Russell, a self-described ‘body modifier’, owned and operated Transition Studio at Erina Fair shopping centre, which was raided by police soon after his arrest in May.
The studio was forced to close its doors shortly after he was charged.
According to his social media where he posts under the name ‘BSlice’, Russell also colours the whites of his client’s eyes and experiments with branding.
He has even branded himself adding ‘two lines for two special people’ to the side of his face.
This scarification was done to cover up unwanted tattoos. Russell, 37, is pictured left
Police allege the deceased woman had undergone body modification surgery and had a ‘plastic snowflake’ implanted in her hand three weeks prior to her death. Pictured is a skull following a similar procedure
Russell is pictured holding skin between his fingers in a photo showing off his scarification work
On Russell’s social media accounts, he claims to have more than ten years’ experience in body modification and travels the world promoting his craft.
His posts feature modification work from fake scars to ‘subdermal horns’ and silicon beads under his client’s skin to tattooed gums and coloured-in whites of the eyes.
Body modification is not legislated in NSW however members of the ‘Skin Penetration’ industry are required to follow public health regulations.
This man had his gums tattooed black by Russell, according to social media posts
Russell, a self-described ‘body modifier’, owns and operates Transition Studio at Erina Fair shopping centre