Image caption Catherine Kieu reportedly told police: "He deserved it."

A California woman convicted of severing her ex-husband's penis and throwing it in a kitchen waste disposal has been sentenced to life in prison.

Catherine Kieu, 50, may seek parole after seven years. Her lawyers said she had mental health issues caused by abuse as a child and by her ex-husband.

But the victim said he lost part of his life and identity after the attack.

Kieu attacked her former spouse with a knife in July 2011 after drugging him with sleeping pills, prosecutors said.

She also tied him to the bed, prosecutors in Orange County, California, said.

Police have said the couple were going through a divorce at the time of the attack.

Kieu told the officers responding to the scene that her husband deserved it, police said.