Brenda Barattini is said to have chopped her boyfriend’s penis off – why she did it remains a mystery (Picture: CEN)

A woman has been arrested after she allegedly cut off her boyfriend’s penis in a rage after a sex attack.

Brenda Barattini, 26, is accused of using garden shears to chop off the manhood of a man known only as Sergio F, 40.

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The motive behind the attack is currently unclear with his lawyer saying it happened during a sex game while her lawyer says it was because he attacked her.

Police and ambulance crews arrived at the scene shortly after with the man taken to hospital where he is said to still be in a ‘stable condition’.


He was rushed to hospital where attempts to reattach his penis failed.



Her lawyer, Carlos Nayi, said: ‘There’s justification for what happened. The information I’ve received is that she was the victim of a sex attack.

Blood at the scene of the grisly crime in Argentina (Picture: CEN)

‘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.’

However Sergio’s lawyer Eduardo Perez denied the claim, saying: ‘I don’t understand what happened. This is someone I’ve known for some time. This was a peaceful encounter.’

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He said that Sergio F and Barattini had been seeing one another for several months adding: ‘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.’

Barattini, an architect, is facing charges of wounding following the incident on Saturday night in Nueva Cordoba, one of the most fashionable and sought-after areas of the city.

She allegedly used garden shears to chop off her boyfriend’s penis (Picture: CEN)

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.

Barattini 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.

Sergio is still in intensive care in hospital.

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Mrs Croppi said: ‘What I can say is that the man wasn’t tied up when police arrived. He was helped by neighbours first and then by paramedics who arrived after the police.’

Investigators are still trying to establish where the pruning shears came from as well as seeking background info on Barattini, who comes from Chubut in southern Argentina.

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 Barattini 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.

He went on to have a short career as a porn star.

Additional reporting by Gerard Couzens