The mum of a man who died after injecting silicone into his genitals is suing his BDSM partners, according to reports.
It’s claimed Tank Hafertepen was forced to make his testicles the size of basketballs while he was a submissive in a BDSM group in Seattle, United States.
Tank changed his name from Jack Chapman at the request of his ‘master’, Dylan Hafertepen, who also ordered him to use steroids to put on weight. The 29-year-old also took on Dylan’s surname to pledge his devotion to his ‘master’.
Posted by Tank Heathcliff Hafertepen on Sunday, August 7, 2016
Dylan’s followers or submissives were known as his ‘pups’. They would cater to their master’s needs by performing submissive acts to win Haftertepen’s affection, and one of the group leader’s requirements was for his followers to have engorged scrotums.
Chapman died in September 2018 after injecting the liquid in an attempt to meet Haftertepen’s requirements.
Now, his mum Linda Chapman is suing Hafertepen, Daniel Balderas Hafertepen, Charles Osborn, Matthew Scott, and Philip Myers.
She says Hafertepen failed to inform her that her son had been hospitalised, and she only found out he’d passed away a week after his death.
Hailing from Australia, Chapman was filmed confronting the BDSM ‘master’ as part of The Project programme on Australia’s Channel 10.
She told him:
I believe with all my heart that you are wholly and solely responsible for my son’s death.
I wish you were dead. I’ve heard of the abuse at your hand. You abused him.
Thrusting a picture of her late son, she added:
That’s my son, that’s my Jack… not what you turned him into, not what you wanted him to be.
Bigger, bigger, bigger but never big enough. What sort of person injects into their fricking balls to please you? What sort of person does that?
Someone that feels so badly about themselves. Someone who is vulnerable, who just wanted your love at any cost – and the cost of his life.
Tank ran a popular Tumblr account with Dylan which documented the orders he was forced to follow.
According to reports in Pink News, the page bragged about their BDSM activities which saw them quickly become rising stars on the gay bear scene.
The ‘master’ flew from the US to Australia to deliver Chapman’s ashes to his family, but Ms. Chapman said he was not welcome at her son’s funeral and kicked him out of her house, telling him she hated him.
According to The Stranger, Tank was just one of many ‘pups’ part of Hafertepen’s ‘polyamorous, self-made family’, which also included Hafertepen’s husband ‘Big Pup’.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.