Brenda Barattini, the woman who used a pair of pruning shears to cut off her lover's genitals, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for attempted aggravated homicide.
Barattini, 28, was convicted unanimously by a popular jury in Córdoba's Criminal Court No. 2 and handed the exact sentence requested by the prosecution.
"I am very sorry for what I did, I never wanted to kill anyone. I ask that justice be done. I have screwed up my life, I want to continue with my normal life," the defendant told the court through tears before the sentence was handed down.
Barattini is alleged to have cut off almost 90 percent of Sergio's penis and one of his testicles.
During the trial, the woman had admitted that she planned to hurt her partner but denied allegations she sought to kill him. She alleged her partner had "treated her like a trophy," and shared videos of her in an intimate situation with his friends.w
"He violated my intimacy, my life and my career. It ruined everything," she said.
Barattini's lawyer Iván Sironi, said they would appeal the sentence, saying a penis injury had never been
"In the history of Argentine Justice, there has been no aggravated homicide for an attempt at a penis injury," he said.
Prosecutor Laura Battistelli said the jury agreed that "the accused wanted to take the man's life."
Upgraded charges
Barattini, an architect, was arrested in November, 2017 in the Nueva Córdoba neighbourhood of the provincial capital for "causing severe injuries." She is said to have used a pair of garden shears to mutilate her then-lover's manhood. However, prosecutors later decided to upgrade the charges to "attempted homidicde."
Attempting to explain her actions, Barattini said that her former lover – identified only as 42-year-old Sergio F. or 'SAF' – had treated her "like a trophy," showing his friends and colleagues intimate videos of her. The man, who was married, had to undergo several reconstruction operations.
The victim, speaking earlier in the trial, detailed the horror that dawned upon him when he gave his versions of events.
"We started having sex and she told me that she was going to give me a surprise, that she had something to give me," he said, explaining that she had then covered his eyes with a velvet mask.
"Then she told me to guess what she touched me with. She also wanted to tie me up but I didn't want to," he added. "She started giving me oral sex. Suddenly I felt something. She wanted to kill me in that second."
"I felt like I was going to die, I didn't know she had cut me. I couldn't see anything. I tried to get up, I pulled up my trousers and grabbed by mobile phone to call an ambulance. I wanted to leave and she started to insult me. She grabbed my t-shirt, my hair, she wouldn't let me leave."
Barattini – who has come to be known as some as the "la Lorena Bobbit cordobesa" (a reference to the American woman who in 1993 cut off her husband's penis after years of sexual abuse) – repeatedly told the court that she had not intended to kill him, adding that she was the one who notified the authorities.
– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL
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