Man accused of streaming castrations, other extreme "body modifications" for "eunuch maker" website faces court

London — A Norwegian man who had his own genitals, nipple and leg amputated appeared in a U.K. court this week accused of livestreaming the castration of other men on his "eunuch maker" website. Marius Gustavson, 45, along with eight others, is alleged to have performed extreme "body modifications" — including the removal of men's penises and testicles — and streamed the clips for paying subscribers, the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London heard.

Gustavson, who's originally from Norway but lived in North London, is said to have been the ringleader of a wide-ranging conspiracy involving as many as 29 criminal offenses. He and eight other men were said to be part of a subculture of genital "nullification," in which men willingly have their genitals removed to become "Nullos." 

The movement is not new, and the case playing out in the U.K. isn't the first high-profile incident related to it. In 2012, Japanese artist Mao Sugiyama, 23, had his genitals removed and then cooked and served them to paying guests at a banquet.

In a February 2022 interview with the Irish Independent, Gustavson said he had performed the genital nullification procedure on 58 other men, and that he kept the removed genitals in his freezer or stored them in alcohol.

The court heard that Gustavson, who appeared in the dock Tuesday in a wheelchair, had his own leg, penis and nipple removed. He told the Irish newspaper last year that he had the procedure done to himself because he wanted to "look like a ken doll down there."

The charges against Gustavson include the removal of a man's penis, the clamping of another's testicles and the freezing of a man's leg, which required amputation, the London Magistrates' Court told CBS News on Wednesday. Gustavson was also charged with making and distributing an indecent image of a child.

Police said the charges against him relate to 13 alleged victims in total.

All nine suspects have now appeared in courts in central London and Wales over the alleged six-year plot, which is said to have generated £200,000, or about $246,000, in income for those involved.

Gustavson appeared in court alongside Peter Wates, 65, and Romanian national Ion Ciucur, 28, both of whom allegedly took part in some of the incidents with Gustavson. Nathan Arnold, 47, Damien Byrnes, 35, and Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, also appeared at the Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Arnold is alleged to have removed Gustavson's nipple, Byrnes is accused of removing his penis and Crimi-Appleby is accused of freezing his leg so that it required amputation.

Three other men appeared in court in Newport, South Wales, charged with involvement in the same conspiracy. All nine men were set to appear again on April 19 at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales in London. Gustavson is being held in custody. None of the defendants had entered pleas to any of the charges as of Thursday.

In his 2022 interview with the Irish Independent, Gustavson said he carried out the procedures in a "very professional way" using a castration tool called a Burdizzo to "help others achieve their goal." The devices are more typically used on cattle or in veterinary settings.

The Irish newspaper quoted neighbors of Gustavson in London as saying they'd seen several ambulances regularly stopping outside the property, which had a large black tent in the back garden. 

A lawyer for Gustavson did not respond to several CBS News requests for comment.

In:
• Cybercrime
• United Kingdom
• Live Streaming