MANASSAS, Va. -- Mostly cool and confident, but sometimes crying and shaking, Lorena Bobbitt told a jury Wednesday how her childlike image of a "regular marriage" differed sharply from life with her husband, John Bobbitt.
The handsome Marine was everything she wanted, and their 1989 marriage "was like the beginning of my dream."
But that dream soon became a nightmare, Bobbitt told jurors in her malicious wounding trial.
The Ecuadoran-born manicurist admits slicing off her husband's penis June 23 - an act that drew worldwide attention. But she says it happened only after he raped her.
During more than two hours of testimony, Bobbitt, 24, described violent rages by her husband that left holes in his "dream house," and beatings that left her frightened and bruised.
"He pushed me, he slapped my face, he tortured me with Marine (martial arts) techniques." The seven-woman, five-man jury listened with emotionless expressions.
Prosecutors say Bobbitt was a spiteful woman with no excuse for what she did. John Bobbitt was acquitted last year of assault charges.
Defense lawyers say Lorena Bobbitt was driven to violence by his repeated abuse.
Dressed in black pumps, a Navy blue skirt and conservative white blouse, Bobbitt sat upright on the witness stand, her hands folded on her lap.
She described going to the hospital emergency room after her husband, she says, choked and beat her for refusing to buy him a computer. When the hospital staff asked how she was injured, she said she fell.
"I was crying. He was right next to me," she said, beginning to fidget. "I didn't know what to say to anybody. I was scared he'd hit me again."
She said locking herself in rooms at home only slowed the thrashings. "He would take a screwdriver and unscrew the locks on the doors."
And when she learned she could call 911 for help, Bobbitt said, her husband put the phone in a cabinet above the refrigerator, out of her reach.
When her husband told her he'd found his "dream house" on Pine Street, Lorena testified she balked because they couldn't afford the $ 1,400 monthly payments.
But he insisted on buying the home, she said, because "he fell in love with the garage. He wanted a bigger garage."
They bought the home and money troubles caused more stress, and seemingly little things ate at their marriage.
After an argument over live Christmas trees vs. plastic Christmas trees, Bobbitt said, her husband, "kicked me . . . punched me in the chest and pulled my skirt up."
Bobbitt got a rare chuckle from jurors when she talked about a ferret that belonged to her husband's stepbrother.
She objected to a critter "that looked like a little mouse" and made "a mess around my house."
But the mood in the packed courtroom turned grim when Bobbitt talked about a fight over the volume on the TV.
Her husband had been up late watching TV, and she turned it off so she could sleep before going to work.
"He beat me up," she said, shaking, crying and wringing her hands on her lap.
When she tried to hide in the locked bathroom, she said, he disassembled the door.
"We went into the bedroom and he turned me, I was with my stomach down."
Crying, she said he raped her. "I was bleeding."
By October 1991, their marriage was falling apart and John Bobbitt had gone home to Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Her husband soon returned, and they reunited.
"He promised to respect me," she told jurors. "I believed him."
"I always wanted to make my marriage work out," said Bobbitt. "I was glad to see him. I thought he was going to be a good husband."
