ITV’s documentary I Cut Off His Penis: The Truth Behind The Headlines covers the story of Lorena Bobbitt, who sliced off her husband’s penis
A woman who cut off her husband’s penis with a butcher’s knife said she first spotted “red flags” in their relationship hours after getting married.
Lorena Bobbitt went on trial for chopping off her husband’s penis in 1993 with ITV’s documentary I Cut Off His Penis: The Truth Behind The Headlines examining the story. The documentary reveals that there were other similar cases around the world, including the USA.
The documentary reveals that Lorena, a former nail technician at a beauty salon, attacked her husband John on June 23, 1993 before driving off with his member and throwing it out of a car window. Police later retrieved it from a field and put it on ice in a hotdog box, before surgeons were able to reattach it following a nine-hour operation.
The-then 24-year-old Lorena claimed that her husband John Wayne Bobbit had raped her hours before the attack, prompting her to take a knife to his groin. She said that she first spotted a “red flag” on their wedding night and, a month after they tied the knot, he began to be physically abusive to her.
Lorena, who was born in Venezuela and moved to America when she was 17, said: “He was very nice, very charming, very kind and I just fell in love with him. He had these beautiful blue eyes and I just thought this guy is very attractive, like a poster guy for the Marines.
“Coming from a Catholic background, I never had any boyfriends before. Like I said, I was very young. I was very naive. He was my first love. It was just so innocent and so natural. So yes, it did move quite fast.”
John proposed to Lorena after finding a ring at the bottom of a swimming pool and the couple got married shortly after Lorena’s 20th birthday. However, Lorena claimed that after the reception, John left for around three hours to go to a strip bar with his friends.
She claimed: “I found out later that was going on. Those were red flags. Big red flags, right? But to me, the sense of being married meant a lot because God says divorce is not acceptable.”
“It escalated to the point that I was raped. In a healthy relationship, yes, you have arguments – not to the point where your husband beats you up or rapes you.”
In the documentary, Lorena alleges that she fell asleep after closing the salon at 8pm and was “half asleep/half awake” when she then found John on top of her. “I was like ‘what’s going on here?’ That’s all I remember,” she said.
“I remember that I went to get a glass of water. I don’t remember seeing the knife. I don’t remember any of that.” She claims she has no memory of chopping off his private parts.
On 22 January 1994, a jury found Lorena Bobbitt not guilty by reason of temporary insanity and was ordered to spend five weeks in a mental hospital. Former US Marine John was found not guilty of marital sexual assault and maintains that he did not abuse her.
