A woman has furiously denied a touring US body modifier offered her counsel prior to an alleged illegal genital modification procedure at a Newcastle West tattoo parlour.
Howard Rollins, known by the moniker Luna Cobra for his body modifying work, is on trial after pleading not guilty to being an accessory to female genital mutilation in January, 2015.
The 42-year-old denies even being in the room as the woman had her labia burned off by another body modification artist.
Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen, SC, on Friday suggested to the alleged victim that once inside the venue she openly and loudly admitted: "I'm a bit nervous about this."
"No. Were you there?" the woman, who cannot be named, replied in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court. "I was just getting my vagina butchered by two guys. Come on."
Ms Cunneen claimed Mr Rollins said to the woman before the procedure: "You don't have to go through this if you don't want."
The woman denied this occurred, saying: "He said that to me halfway through the procedure when half of my labia was cut off."
She rejected Ms Cunneen's assertion Mr Rollins had already left the premises by that point. The woman has accused Mr Rollins and the other man of "burning away my labia with a branding iron" before being handed the discarded body part in a coffee jar.
Ms Cunneen asked the woman if she'd heard a telephone conversation - as she has alleged - in which the other man ostensibly booked Mr Rollins to travel to the parlour and direct the procedure.
"He would speak to him on the phone quite often," she said. "(He) said Howie needed to be there to talk him through the operation in case there was too much bleeding. "He wasn't going there for a tea party, was he?"
But Ms Cunneen argued Mr Rollins was simply stopping by the tattoo parlour to visit friends and was only alerted to the victim's impending procedure by her "loud carry-on about being nervous about it".
"That's bulls---," the woman said.
The woman has alleged in court that Mr Rollins held back part of her genitalia at one stage of the procedure.
But she was forced to concede on Thursday she had not made that claim in two statements to police made in February this year and on Sunday.
Female genital modification is illegal under NSW law, unless in specific medical contexts.
While the procedure was entered into with consent, Judge Ian Bourke has heard that does not constitute a defence.
Mr Rollins faces up to 21 years behind bars if found guilty.
