Bobbitt Testifies That He Never Struck His Wife : Justice: He says he used physical force to defend himself against her. Defense witnesses in mutilation trial contend he told them he enjoyed forced sex.

On the second day of Lorena Bobbitt’s trial for cutting off her husband’s penis, John Wayne Bobbitt returned to the stand Tuesday to testify that he never hit his wife, but was sometimes forced to physically restrain her from assaulting him.

In a case that has brought hordes of journalists from around the world to this small town 30 miles west of Washington, a jury of seven women and five men listened--at times it seemed uneasily--to the most intimate details of the Bobbitts’ stormy marriage. Bobbitt himself seemed embarrassed as he described such things as the “rug burns” he suffered on his knees when the couple made love on their living room rug.

A 24-year-old manicurist from Venezuela, Mrs. Bobbitt faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on a charge of “maliciously wounding” her husband by cutting off his penis on the night of June 23 last year after he came home drunk and, she says, raped her. She is expected to testify today.

Bobbitt, who has denied having raped his wife and said that he fell asleep that night and did not engage in sex, was acquitted of marital assault in the same courtroom last November.

But, with his estranged wife now on trial, defense attorneys presented new testimony and other evidence not introduced at the earlier trial to bolster their contention that the burly ex-Marine beat and otherwise abused his wife on numerous occasions during their tempestuous, four-year marriage.

While not disputing the fact that Mrs. Bobbitt mutilated her husband, the defense team led by Virginia attorney Blair Howard hopes to prove that she was driven by Bobbitt’s abuse into a “deep psychological despair” that caused her to feel an “irresistible impulse” to sever his penis after a night of violent, forced sex.

In what was perhaps the day’s most damaging testimony for Bobbitt, two acquaintances of his testified that he told them on one occasion when they were talking about their sex lives that he enjoyed forced sex and making women “squirm.”

“He said he liked forced sex . . . that it turned him on,” testified Jonathan Whitaker, who met Bobbitt at the home of a mutual friend.

Jonathan Kaopur, a friend of Whitaker’s, also was called to testify about the conversation in which Bobbitt allegedly confided his sadistic impulses toward women.

Howard also called to the stand a parade of witnesses who said that they saw Bobbitt abuse his wife on several occasions. One testified that at a Christmas party she saw Bobbitt pin his wife to the wall and call her a “bitch” because she was too embarrassed to show off the skimpy lingerie he had bought her.

Earlier, the defense tried to undermine Bobbitt’s contention that he never abused his wife by recalling him to the stand as a hostile witness and asking him about specific instances of abuse alleged by Mrs. Bobbitt.

As in his earlier appearances on the witness stand, Bobbitt frequently stammered and seemed at times to have trouble understanding the questions. But, although he appeared confused, he continued to steadfastly deny ever having beaten his wife, contending that he used physical force only as a means of keeping “her from hitting me.”

Indeed, the muscular 200-pound bouncer painted a picture of the flip side of marital abuse, saying that his petite but quick-tempered wife frequently flew into emotional rages in which she would assault him and he would be forced to restrain her.

“I could never hit my wife,” Bobbitt said. “I never hit her at all.” Asked if he ever used physical force against her, Bobbitt replied: “Just to push her, hold her down, restrain her from hitting me.”

Howard, his voice rising in accusation and anger, asked Bobbitt about an incident in which Mrs. Bobbitt said that he hit her in the face while they were driving home from a restaurant. Bobbitt conceded that the incident had occurred but said it was she who began hitting him in her rage over being denied a table at the restaurant because he was too casually dressed.