Bobbitt faces divorce after latest violence

Heather Rawlyk

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

Two days after her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, was arrested and charged with two counts of domestic violence in the beating of her teenage son, Joanna Bobbitt filed for divorce.

"I just realized, there can be no reconciliation at all with this," Joanna Bobbitt said. "If we can't live our lives cordially, then it just can't be worked out."

John Bobbitt, 37, who became famous when his first wife cut off his penis while he slept in 1993, was arrested at his northwest Las Vegas home early Wednesday morning. Police allege he held down his 14-year-old stepson and struck him in the face several times with a closed fist, according to the arrest report.

The alleged fight was sparked after the teen found sex toys in the parents' bedroom and became angry, police said.

The sex toys -- a drawer full -- had been given to John Bobbitt recently at a pornography convention held in Las Vegas, Joanna Bobbitt said.

Bobbitt's lawyer, Barry Levinson, said Thursday his client is innocent and was involved in the fight only to intervene between his wife and stepson, who Levinson said were fighting in a bedroom over the discovery of the sex toys.

Joanna Bobbitt, however, said Levinson's statements are false, and she was the one who was trying to intervene between John Bobbitt and her son.

"I was outside at the washer and dryer folding clothes, and I heard the commotion and came inside to see what was going on," Joanna Bobbitt said. "When I walked in, John was holding (my son) to the ground and punching him in the face. I tried to break them apart, and John shoved me to the ground."

Joanna Bobbitt said when police arrived, she, her son and Bobbitt were separated and questioned about what happened. Joanna Bobbitt said she and her son had matching stories, but John Bobbitt's story was different.

That's when police arrested John Bobbitt, she said.

"I decided I had had enough," Joanna Bobbitt said, so she filed for divorce Friday.

"I've been living in a nightmare for the past three years and it's time to get out of it," she said. "I'm done with this man."