Woman cuts off musician's penis and testicles with garden shears

26-year-old Brenda Barattini's lawyer says she was defending herself from a sexual assault

A woman has been arrested after she allegedly cut off her boyfriend’s penis and testicles with garden shears in the Argentinian city of Cordoba.

Forty-year-old musician, known only as Sergio Fernandez, was sleeping when he was allegedly mutilated by Brenda Barattini, Daily Star reported.

But his lawyer insisted that his manhood was targeted while he was blindfolded and aroused.

Brenda’s lawyer Carlos Nayi says the 26-year-old was defending herself from a sexual assault after being fooled into letting Sergio into her apartment, The Sun reported.

Brenda Barattini. PHOTO: Facebook/File



He said: "There’s justification for what happened. The information I’ve received is that she was the victim of a sex attack. She let him into her apartment because he’s someone who’s in a rock band and is an acquaintance of her brother but once inside, instead of removing a musical instrument as he was supposed to, he attacked her sexually and she assumed a defensive attitude. Whether or not she acted excessively is for the courts to decide."

The claims were rubbished by Eduardo Perez, the lawyer acting for Sergio whose reproductive organs are reported to have been rendered useless despite an emergency hospital op which has put him "out of danger".

Perez said: "I don’t understand what's happened. This is someone I’ve known for some time. This was a peaceful encounter."

Brenda Barattini. PHOTO: Facebook

Insisting the pair had been seeing each other for several months, he added: "They were in the middle of things. He wasn’t asleep. They began with a sexual game in which he was blindfolded. There is evidence that was at the crime scene."

It was revealed today that he was the singer of a local reggae/ska band La Coca Fernandez.



Argentinian papers have published pictures of the bloodied bed where Sergio alleges he was attacked as well as the pruning shears on the floors.

Brenda, described in local media as an architect, has been remanded in prison and is expected to undergo psychiatric tests to determine her state of mind. She is being investigated on suspicion of a crime of wounding.

The horror incident happened on Saturday night in a neighbourhood called Nueva Cordoba, one of the most fashionable and sought-after areas of Cordoba.

State prosecutor Bettina Croppi said the only thing she knew for sure at the moment was that the injuries that Sergio had suffered were “very serious".

She admitted: “It’s very likely he’s lost the ability to be able to father children” and said it had been confirmed the couple knew each other but it was not clear yet if they were in a relationship.

Brenda has yet to give a statement and will not be formally questioned until next week after her psychiatric evaluation. Tests are also understood to have taken place to determine if she was raped or sexually attacked.

The case has evoked memories of Lorena Bobbitt who chopped off her husband John’s penis with a kitchen knife in 1993 before throwing it into a field.

Some sectors of the Argentinian press have already dubbed Brenda the Argentinian Lorena Bobbitt.

In that case, Bobbit suffered years abuse and was allegedly raped by her husband. She chopped off his penis as he slept then fled the scene, still holding his penis and threw it into a field before turning herself into the police. He was acquitted of rape and the jury found Lorena not guilty due to insanity causing an irresistible impulse to sexually wound John. As a result, Lorena could not be held liable for her actions and, under state law, the judge ordered her to undergo a 45-day evaluation period at Central State Hospital, located in Petersburg, Virginia, after which she was released.