Musician, 40, whose penis and testicles were hacked off with garden shears claims he was attacked during a sex game as 26-year-old 'attacker' says she acted in self defence

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A man who had his penis and testicles hacked off with pruning shears by a pretty architect is claiming he was attacked during a sex game.

It was reported the 40-year-old rock musician, known only as Sergio F, was sleeping when he was allegedly mutilated by stunning blonde Brenda Barattini in the Argentinian city of Cordoba.

But his lawyer insisted yesterday his genitals were targeted while he was blindfolded and aroused.

Brenda Barattini, 26, an architect from Argentina, cut off her 40-year-old lover's penis and testicles using a pair of garden shears

Brenda's lawyer Carlos Nayi says the 26-year-old was defending herself from a sex assault after being fooled into letting Sergio into her apartment.

He said: 'There's justification for what happened. The information I've received is that she was the victim of a sex attack.

'She let him into her apartment because he's someone who's in a rock band and is an acquaintance of her brother but once inside, instead of removing a musical instrument as he was supposed to, he attacked her sexually and she assumed a defensive attitude. Whether or not she acted excessively is for the courts to decide.'

The claims were rubbished by Eduardo Perez, the lawyer acting for Sergio whose reproductive organs are reported to have been rendered useless despite an emergency hospital op which has put him 'out of danger.'

Mr Perez said: 'I don't understand what's happened. This is someone I've known for some time. This was a peaceful encounter.'

Insisting the pair had been seeing each other for several months, he added: 'They were in the middle of things. He wasn't asleep. They began with a sexual game in which he was blindfolded. There is evidence that was at the crime scene.'

Barattini made her way into the man's house in the city of Cordoba before attacking him while he was asleep on Sunday monring, local media reports

Argentinian papers have published pictures of the bloodied bed where Sergio alleges he was attacked as well as the pruning shears on the floors.

Offensive photos in one sensationalist paper even show the man at the centre of the confusing incident sat on the floor of Brenda's apartment with his hands covering his manhood and blood all over the lower part of his body including his shoes and ankles - as well as a close-up of the affected area with what's left of his mutillated private parts pixellated.

It was not clear how the pictures reached the paper.

Brenda, described in local media as an architect, has been remanded in prison and is expected to undergo psychiatric tests to determine her state of mind.

She is being investigated on suspicion of a crime of wounding.

The horror incident happened on Saturday night in a neighbourhood called Nueva Cordoba, one of the most fashionable and sought-after areas of Cordoba which is the home province of Katie Price's former boyfriend Leandro Penna.

State prosecutor Bettina Croppi said the only thing she knew for sure at the moment was that the injuries that Sergio had suffered were 'very serious.'

She admitted: 'It's very likely he's lost the ability to be able to father children' and said it had been confirmed the couple knew each other but it was not clear yet if they were in a relationship.

Brenda has yet to give a statement and will not be formally questioned until next week after her psychiatric evaluation. Tests are also understood to have taken place to determine if she was raped or sexually attacked.

Sergio is still in intensive care in hospital.

Mrs Croppi said: 'What I can say is that the man wasn't tied up when police arrived. He was helped by neighbours first and then by paramedics who arrived after the police.'

Investigators are still trying to establish where the pruning shears came from as well as seeking background info on Brenda, who comes from Chubut in southern Argentina which draws whale watchers from around the world.

The case has evoked memories of Lorena Bobbitt who chopped off her husband John's penis with a kitchen knife in 1993 before throwing it into a field.

Some sectors of the Argentinian press have already dubbed Brenda the Argentinian Lorena Bobbitt.

The man, who has not been named, was taken to hospital after losing a large amount of blood and is now in a stable condition