Wife severs estranged husband's genitals

CALIFORNIA, SANTA ANA (AP):The estranged husband of a woman charged with severing his penis said it was as though his life ended the evening of the attack.

"She murdered me that night," the man said Wednesday on the first day of the trial of Catherine Kieu, 50.

Deputy District Attorney John Christl said in his opening statement that Kieu, angry because her husband was dating a former girlfriend, laced his food with sleeping pills on July 11, 2011, then tied him to a bed, severed his penis and put it in the garbage disposal.

"I will never have a sex life again," said the husband, who had surgery that allows him to urinate. The penis could not be reattached. "My mental state is improving, but it may never be what it was before," he said.

The man is going only by his first name in court and is not being named by The Associated Press because of the sexual nature of the attack.

The husband said he remembered waking tied to the bed. "All of a sudden I felt a very sharp pain," he said.