The penis was subsequently surgically reattached. John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted on the rape charge. The incident occurred June 23, in Manassas, Virginia. Lorena Bobbitt stated in a court hearing that, after coming home that evening, her husband raped her.
After he then went to sleep, she got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. She then grabbed an eight-inch carving knife on the kitchen counter, returned to their bedroom, pulled back the bed-sheets and cut off his penis.
After this, she left the apartment with the severed appendage and drove away in her car. After a while driving and struggling to steer with one hand, she threw it out the window into a roadside field. She eventually stopped and called , telling them what had happened and where the penis could be found. John Bobbitt's penis was found after an exhaustive search, and after being washed with antiseptic and packed in saline ice, it was reattached in the hospital where he was treated. The operation took nine and a half hours.
When she was arrested the night of June 23, she told the police, "He always have orgasm [sic], and he doesn't wait for me ever to have orgasm. He's selfish. During the trial, the couple revealed details of their volatile relationship and the events that led to the assault.
Lorena stated that John sexually, physically, and emotionally abused her during their marriage. She said that he flaunted his infidelities and forced her to have an abortion. Her defense attorneys, who included the defense lawyer Blair D. Howard, maintained that his constant abuse caused her to eventually "snap" because she was suffering from clinical depression and a possible bout of post traumatic stress disorder due to the abuse.
