A woman allegedly subjected to a body modifier's botched surgery says she knew he wasn't medically trained but denies he warned her of several risks before operating on her.
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Brendan Leigh Russell, known by moniker BSlice Dot Com, has pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing grievous bodily harm in November 2016.
The NSW Central Coast body modifier, 40, also denies responsibility for the 2017 death of a second customer and conducting illegal genital mutilation on a third woman in 2015.
The identities of each woman have been suppressed by the court.
The first woman didn't report Russell until 2018, saying on Tuesday she'd initially covered for him when complications forced her to seek medical treatment in December 2016.
"All the nurses kept saying 'what have you done?'," she told the Sydney District Court.
"I kept having to lie ... 'who did it' was the (main) question ... I kept saying I'm not telling."
While in hospital she received a message saying "I want you to know how much we care please don't think we don't give a f*** ... Brendan's in a real bad way n just wants to talk to u".
She replied that the experience and been "traumatic" and was asked to elaborate.
"Watching (my) skin open up in front of me ... watching parts of my belly come away in the shower ... not having care, not having advice what to do," she said.
She eventually reported him after seeing another alleged victim had gone to police.
The woman had been in Russell's all-in-one barbershop and tattoo parlour when he offered to help address her concerns about the size of her stomach.
She said she spoke of a desire for an "Elle Macpherson tummy" and was shown photographs supposedly of one of Russell's previous patients.
A later consultation addressed few risks, she said.
"Whatever he was saying back then, he was so confident and very convincing and I felt like I was in really good hands and I felt he knew what he was doing," the woman said.
The court was told the woman was told "nothing" in a pre-procedure consultation about the potential for wound bleeding or the risks of internal bleeding or infection.
"Internal bleeding was never ever spoken about," she said.
The woman denied suggestions the body modifier had described the tummy tuck as a "big procedure" or that his lack of a mask during the procedure was because she'd mentioned "it was intimidating".
"That is not what happened," the woman replied.
The court was shown photographs of several pieces of red-soaked gauze near a bleeding wound on her stomach.
The woman's husband, who took the photographs during the operation, said the bleeding was a result of Russell leaving a scalpel standing alone in her fatty tissue to prove she was numb.
Following hospital surgery she was hobbling around Erina Fair with her sister in the days before Christmas 2016, when Russell approached her.
"Brendan stated 'look at the way you're walking, it looks like you've been f***ed up the arse," the woman said.
Under cross-examination on Tuesday, the woman denied the body modifier had actually opened with "how are you?".
"I suggest you said to him 'I'm fine, just a bit sore and tired' and that was the extent of it," lawyer Michal Mantaj said.
"No," the woman said, adding he'd mentioned his search for presents, how he couldn't handle crowds and how he wanted to get out of there.
The trial continues.
Australian Associated Press
