ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993                   TAG: 9307110167
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS                                LENGTH: Medium


MUTILATED MAN EXPECTS FULL RECOVERY

The 26-year-old Virginia man whose wife cut off his penis with a kitchen knife returned home Saturday, saying he expected a full recovery from an operation in which the organ was reattached.

"I am anxious to return to work and begin rebuilding my life," the nightclub bouncer and former Marine said in a statement.

"The divorce . . . should become final in due time. My doctors tell me I'm making a miraculously speedy recovery, and I look forward to a full and healthy life."

The man disputed his wife's allegations that he had raped her earlier in the morning of June 23, calling them "desperate excuses." The wife, 24, has been charged with malicious wounding; police said they still are investigating her allegations and have not decided whether to charge the husband.

It was the man's first public statement since he arrived at Prince William Hospital about 5 a.m. that day, missing about two-thirds of his penis, which his wife had severed while he slept. Police found the penis at a Manassas intersection, where they said his wife had thrown it "in a panic" after leaving the apartment.

The man left the hospital with relatively few restrictions, doctors said. Doctors are predicting a complete return of all functions, including sexual abilities, within a year or two.

The man's wife, through her attorneys, has declined requests for interviews. The couple has not been identified because they both claim to be victims of sex crimes.

David Berman, a reconstructive plastic surgeon and one of two doctors who operated on the man, said he can move about freely. He still has to urinate through a catheter, which likely will be removed within two weeks.



 by CNB