newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A Southern California woman pulled a "Lorena Bobbitt" Monday when she sliced off her estranged husband's penis, tossed it her garbage disposal and then turned it on before summoning emergency responders. When police arrived, Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, allegedly told the officers that her husband "deserved it," before pointing them to the bedroom he was in.

Garden Grove police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said the officers found the husband, whose identity has not been released, tied to a bed, and bleeding extensively from his groin area. The couple had been married for a little over a year when the 51-year-old victim filed for divorce.

The husband told investigators that he thought Becker might have poisoned his food prior to maiming him. The man said he went to lie down after eating. When he awoke, he was tied to the bed and his wife was pulling his clothes off. At that point, she cut his penis with a 10-inch knife. Police received the call for "medical assistance" after 9 p.m. Monday, Los Angeles newspaper, Daily Breeze reported.

According to the Orange County Register, the couple was still living together, but Becker was in the process of moving her things out. Police records show no previous calls to the condominium, said Nightengale, who added that pieces of the severed genital were recovered from the garbage disposal and transported to the University of California Irvine Medical Center, where the husband underwent emergency surgery. When reached by the newspaper Tuesday afternoon, the victim would only say that the matter was private.

In the meantime, Becker is charged with aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse. She faces life in prison for the charges.

Nightengale, a police officer for 22 years, said the act was heinous and not a "typical" domestic violence case. "It was way over the top," he told the Huffington Post.

New Jersey domestic violence laws are amongst the strictest in the country. The Administrative Office of the Courts maintains a central registry containing the names of any individual who had had a domestic violence restraining orders entered against them, all persons charged with a crime or offense involving domestic abuse, and all persons charged with a violation of a court order involving domestic violence.

Dr. Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News that an injury like the Becker victims is unusual and doctor’s first priority would be to stop the bleeding by tying off the arteries and veins. If the penis is available to reattach, Dr. Ryan Terlecki, assistant professor surgical sciences-urology at Wake Forest University, said it should be wrapped in saline-soaked gauze, placed in a plastic bag, and kept on ice. Doctors then reconstruct the nerve arteries and veins, while putting the erectile tissue back together.

Terlecki, who has performed other re-implant procedures, said it is best to reattach the member within 24 hours, preferably less than eight hours. During the procedure, the penis is recreated using grafting tissue from another part of the body and then augmented with a penile prosthetic. With the prosthesis, the victim is able to urinate, have sexual relations and ejaculate. In the event surgeons are unable to reattach the original member, plastic surgeons, specializing in transgender operations, may be able to construct a new penis.

On the night of June 23, 1993, Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband’s penis with a carving knife after he raped her in a drunken stupor. Afterwards, she drove off with the penis in hand, tossing into a field from her car window before stopping to call 911. Police eventually located the member, packed in ice, and transported it to the hospital where Drs. James T. Sehn and David Berman reattached it during a nine-and-a-half-hour operation. Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of insanity and served 45-days in mental hospital for evaluation.

The Bobbitt case occurred one year and 11 days before the double homicide of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Retired football star and actor Orenthal "OJ" Simpson was accused of slashing his ex wife and her friend to death. On October 3, 1995, a Los Angeles County jury found Simpson not guilty of both murders. Wrought with allegations of domestic abuse, Simpson's trial and Brown's death sparked national awareness about domestic violence and its affect on, not only the victims, but society as a whole.