Boy George scares the crap out of me. And male or female, he should scare the crap out of you too. If you are within 200 yards of him at any given moment there is a 7 out of 10 chance that he will handcuff you to a radiator and threaten to do incredibly degrading things to you. Seriously, the guy is all-out batshit insane. Assuming the charges against him are true, which… it sorta seems like they are.

George’s trial for false imprisonment and other really horrifying things (some legalese for you there) started today in London.

A Norwegian escort told a court Monday that Boy George manacled him to a bedroom wall and beat him with a metal chain after accusing him of hacking into his computer. The former Culture Club singer is on trial for the false imprisonment of 29-year-old Audun Carlsen. The 47-year-old singer, who is standing trial under his real name, George O’Dowd, denies the charge.

Carlsen told London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court that he met the singer through a Web site and went to his London home for a naked photo shoot. After the encounter Boy George sent a series e-mails accusing Carlsen of hacking into his computer, but Carlsen nonetheless agreed to return for a second photo session several weeks later in April 2007.

Carlsen told the jury that when he arrived Boy George and another man held him down and beat him before the singer handcuffed him to a hook in the bedroom wall. “George was slapping me and beating me and punching me and screaming things,” Carlsen said. Carlsen said he was able to escape by unscrewing the hook and running for the door. “I took a bit of time getting the door open and he had a metal chain that he was hitting me with,” Carlsen said.

Carlsen said he ran into the street clad only in his underwear. The court was shown photographs of red welts on Carlsen’s head and injuries to his arm which he said had been inflicted during the attack.

[From the Huffington Post]

Carlsen’s testimony sounds consistent with the published reports of the accounts he gave to the police. I’m guessing the defense’s main angle will be to try to discredit him by using his profession against him and/or finding character witnesses to do the same. Unfortunately for Boy George, it’s more than possible for the prosecution to do the same with him. He’s had a long list of relatively minor infractions including some drug charges.

People joke about this story because it’s so bizarre, but honestly it’s really horrifying. If you take out the name “Boy George” and just make it some random man, you realize this was a really terrible crime. The brutality is especially disturbing and hints at a deep problem. Combined with drugs, it’s easy to guess that Boy George may very well be a threat to others. I cannot imagine how he’d be able to survive prison, but I think there’s a decent chance that’s where he’ll end up.

Here’s Boy George deejaying at Queen Night Club in Paris in July of 2007. Images thanks to Fame.