A Southern California jury has convicted a woman accused of severing her estranged husband's penis.

Catherine Kieu was found guilty today of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack.

Prosecutors in Orange County say the 50-year-old Kieu drugged her husband, cut off his penis and tossed it in the garbage disposal. The man is not being named by The Associated Press because of the nature of the attack.

Frank Bittar, Kieu's public defender, told jurors his client has mental health issues caused by a childhood full of molestation and other trauma in war-torn Vietnam.

He says her husband also constantly demanded sex in ways that caused her pain.

The 60-year-old victim, whose penis could not be reattached, testified he felt as though he had been murdered.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10880580

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