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A man who had his penis cut off by his wife as he slept 33 years ago had a picture of his mutilated manhood shown in court, turning the stomachs of jurors.
John Wayne Bobbitt's name became synonymous with one of the most notorious violent assaults of the 1990s.
Bobbitt first made headlines on June 23, 1993, when his wife, Lorena Gallo, severed his penis while he slept, which she later claimed was driven by years of physical and sexual abuse.
Lorena’s trial for malicious wounding gripped the world, and the name “Bobbitt” even became an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, meaning, unsurprisingly, to cut off a penis.
Thankfully, Bobbitt’s penis was reattached in a grueling nine-hour surgery, and Lorena was acquitted of violent charges the following year on the grounds of temporary insanity.
Despite court records documenting a tumultuous marriage, Bobbitt has always denied the allegations of abuse. Inevitably, the couple divorced a year later.
In a 2019 interview with ABC News, Bobbitt claimed that they constantly argued, while Lorena claimed that the first instance of domestic violence occurred just one month into their marriage when Bobbitt allegedly hit her.
Bobbitt denied the allegations, saying he was merely "subduing" her during her own violent outbursts and describing his ex-wife as "jealous and possessive".
Things really came to a head on June 22, 1993, when Bobbitt's friend Robert Johnston stayed with the couple while they deliberated over who would keep their marital home.
After a night of drinking, Bobbitt returned home, and Lorena later claimed she was woken by the sound of a slamming door before Bobbitt allegedly raped her.
However, during the trial, Bobbitt insisted she made sexual advances on him, but he was too "exhausted" to reciprocate.
Lorena later admitted that after the alleged assault, she went to the kitchen to get water but instead returned with a knife.
Armed with the trauma of the alleged abuse and an abortion, she said: “I pick up the knife and ... I went back to the bedroom. I took the sheets off and I cut him. Everything went just fast.”
Recalling the terrifying moment he woke up, Bobbitt said: "I sprung up and I was bleeding, I was applying pressure, then immediately I thought it was something out of a horror movie. A nightmare… turned into reality.”
Reportedly, Lorena fled the scene immediately, driving away with both the knife and Bobbitt's severed penis, which she threw out of her car window some miles from her home.
Hours later, she called the police to report her heinous crime while bleeding-out-Bobbitt was rushed to the hospital by his friend.
During the trial, jurors were left horrified as a graphic photo of the severed penis was shown in evidence.
Extremely unexpectedly, Bobbitt later found work performing in adult movies.
