California man tells of night estranged wife Catherine Kieu cut off his penis

A Californian man has told a Los Angeles court of the horror he suffered at having his penis cut off. 

"She murdered me that night," the man, 60, said, AP reported.

His estranged wife, Catherine Kieu, 50, faced court Wednesday charged with aggravated mayhem and torture in relation to the July 2011 attack.

The court was told Kieu put sleeping pills in his food, tied him to a bed, severed his penis and put it in the garbage disposal.

"All of a sudden I felt a very sharp pain," he said.

The penis could not be reattached.

The man, who had filed for divorce two months before the incident but was still living with Kieu, said he suffered physical as well as psychological trauma, NBC reported.

Kieu was arrested on the night of July 11, 2011, telling officers her husband “deserved it," the LA Times reported.

Her attorney, Frank Bittar, told the jury that Kieu was mentally ill due to a traumatic childhood in war-torn Vietnam.

In 1994, Lorena Bobbitt escaped conviction for cutting off her husband's penis after a jury found she was temporarily insane.