Ex-butcher pleads guilty in botched castration

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

REGINA, Saskatchewan, Canada - A one-time chef and former butcher has pleaded guilty in the botched sex change operation of a Transgendered person from Alberta, Canada.

The victim, who cannot be named, met Gary Gillingwater in an Internet chat room. The victim had been asking about sex-reassignment surgery.

Gillingwater said he was able to perform sex-change surgery and purported to have a medical license. The court heard PROMOTION that he learned how to castrate farm animals as a boy.

According to court records, Gillingwater showed up at the man's hotel room, not far from his Fort Qu'Appelle home, east of Regina, with a bag full of medical supplies -- forceps, bandages and scalpel -- but no anesthetic.

He sliced open the victim's scrotum, removed the testicles and sewed him up. An hour after the operation, the sutures broke and the man started bleeding heavily.

The victim underwent emergency surgery in a Regina hospital and was released three days later.

The 28-year-old victim "found himself in a desperate situation," said Crown prosecutor Lane Wiegers. "For years he had viewed himself as a woman trapped in man's body.

Gillingwater was given a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing bodily harm.

Transgender advocates were outraged by the light sentence.

When police searched Gillingwater's home they reportedly found several e-mails to and from people wanting castrations and some wanting to apprentice under him.

For more Canadian and international news, visit 365Gay.com.

Posted on www.365Gay.com on June 29, 2001