WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Her act of violence was described as something that would “send a chill through every man in the world”.
In an act that would “send a chill through every man in the world”, one wife reached breaking point when her husband came home from a night out drinking.
Using only the glow from their fridge, Lorena Bobbitt seized a knife and severed her husband’s penis.
Hospital staff were gobsmacked when John Wayne Bobbitt stumbled into the A&E at 5am, his hands and lower body drenched in blood.
Beneath the crimson sheet, John had “just testicles where the penis would have been, a red substance. It looked like a nice, even, straight cut,” testified police officer Cecil Deane. One officer refused to touch John’s “appendage” when he eventually located it.
James Sehn, the surgeon who managed to restore his patient’s ability to urinate normally, said men feel “emasculated” by the tale, reports the Mirror.
It became a “wake-up call”, according to critic Camille Paglia, who added “it has to send a chill through every man in the world”.
Lorena Bobbitt, the wife who committed the act, then featured in a double-page spread for Vanity Fair. More recently, she has produced her own documentary telling the story from her viewpoint.
Lorena, now known as Lorena Gallo, was just 24 when a lengthy period of alleged domestic abuse culminated in what her lawyers dubbed an act of self-defence.
She met John after moving to America at just 17 to live with family. He joined her at her table when she went to a club for enlisted men.
John was well-groomed, and by many accounts, good-looking.
Lorena told Vanity Fair: “My English wasn’t too good, so I really feel frustrated because I guess he couldn’t understand me. And I couldn’t understand him either. He mumbles.”
The pair were romantically involved when she was 21 and he was 26, eventually tying the knot. According to Lorena, the first alleged incident of violence occurred just one month after their wedding.
Lorena recounted how she’d expressed a desire to accompany John and his cousin, who struggled with addiction, on an outing. During their journey home, she claims John sped recklessly.
Lorena said: “I said to him ‘Oh my God, we’re going to crash,’ and he would do it on purpose. I hold the steering wheel very tight and John would push me. I said, ‘John, don’t do that.’ That’s when he hit me the first time. He punched me. I was crying the whole time.”
She alleges this marked the beginning of a pattern of violence. Upon returning home, she claimed John launched another assault.
She said: “He grabbed my hair and slapped me, he kicked me to the wall.”
On another occasion, a row erupted over a Christmas tree. Lorena said: “He started using some technique that he teaches the Marines. That hurts a lot because my arm was twisted. He was just hitting me. Hitting me in my chest, my arms.”
John’s solicitor Greg Murphy refuted this allegation.
In February 1991, following consecutive days of police calls, Lorena lodged a formal complaint alleging John had strangled her. John responded with accusations she had kicked him in the groin.
Both charges were thrown out. Their neighbour, Ken, a pastor, attempted to offer guidance to John but said: “I will extend a helping hand to people that respond to it. But there is a quote from the Bible ‘don’t cast your pearls before swine.”
Lorena bought a tape recorder and used it to collect sufficient evidence of his abuse for a divorce case. However, John discovered the device and Lorena claimed he assaulted her.
John recalled the dispute over the tape, but denied attacking or sexually assaulting Lorena.
Lorena revealed the strain of her circumstances was beginning to impact everything. She said: “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. People were complaining about my work.”
Her doctor referred her to a women’s abuse hotline.
Lorena says she spoke to someone who advised her to seek a protective order to keep John at bay.
Lorena recalled waking up between 3am and 3:30am and asking John if he had been to work that day. “No, I went out,” he responded.
He later informed police he had been barhopping and consumed five beers and several shots.
Lorena returned to sleep but then provided a distressing account of what she alleges occurred next.
She recounted: “The next thing I remember, he was on top of me. I said, ‘No, get off of me. I don’t want to have sex.’ And he wouldn’t get off of me. … I was fighting and I just grabbed my pants. … I heard my underwear rip. And his chest was really on me. And he’s heavy. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t scream. … I couldn’t even move.”
She alleged he continued to rape her. She ventured into the kitchen for a glass of water. “The refrigerator light was on,” she recalls.
“The door was really wide open. … It was just so many things together. I was scared. … I was physically hurt. I was feeling hurt. I don’t know. It was everything together. I couldn’t describe it. I don’t know the words to describe it. . . . The first thing I saw was a knife, when I turned. I grabbed that knife and, um, I went to the bedroom, and, and he was there, I guess, and he kind of, like, moved or something. I don’t know. And I took the sheets off and I cut him.
“I remember many things. I was thinking many things. I was thinking the first time he hit me. I was thinking when he raped me. I was thinking so many things, just really quick. I don’t know. … I just wanted him to disappear. I just wanted him to leave me alone, to leave my life alone. I don’t want to see him anymore.”
Lorena admitted that she “cut” John. “I remember when I screamed, I saw, I saw that thing. And so I remembered what I saw then and I said I realised that was what I cut. “.
Following the incident, Lorena sought advice from her boss who suggested she report to the police. Upon arriving at the station, the officers inquired about the location of the “body part”.
“I just said the body part was close to the stop sign at 7-Eleven somewhere. I threw it away. I screamed when I threw it away. I mean, I screamed.”
John’s response took many by surprise. He’d been boasting to locals and pub-goers about his impending wealth and fame, jesting that he’d have to settle for an 11-inch member instead of a 12-inch one.
Lorena’s solicitor Jim Lowe dismissed this claim, saying “the photograph did not reveal anything of that magnitude.”
Lorena, however, recounted her trauma: “I have bad dreams,” she admitted. “Sometimes I wake up shaking. And when I wake up, I say, ‘Oh my God, this is not over..”
In the wake of Lorena’s allegations, John was charged with marital sexual assault, a crime carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. John maintained his innocence, claiming he had no recollection of having sex on the night of June 23 and vehemently denying all accusations of abuse and rape.
His trial, which wasn’t broadcasted, lasted two days. He was acquitted on November 11, 1993, as reported by The New York Times.
Lorena, whose trial was televised, continues to live in Manassas with her daughter and long-term partner, according to TIME.
She has become a champion for domestic violence victims and founded the Lorena Gallo Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preventing domestic violence and sexual assault in Virginia. Meanwhile, John pursued a career in the adult film industry.
“One of my missions is to educate the public and young women about the red flags in dating an abuser. I go to colleges and talk to sororities,” she shared with TIME in 2018.
#chopped #husbands #penis #chucked #car #Vanity #Fair #shoot
