Texas Woman Convicted in Penis Slicing Case -- Reporter Explains How He Covered It (Carefully)

By: Lesley Messer A woman who sliced off her lover's penis was sentenced to eight years in prison on Monday. Delmy Ruiz, 49, the woman charged with the crime, showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Jurors spent more than seven hours weighing her claims of abuse and rape.

The victim, Rene Aramando Nunez, 35, had worn a catheter and a medical bag as he testified. He explained he has no memory of the assault that followed Ruiz luring him to her home and tying him up as he slept. He also showed jurors scars from his forearm where doctors took a skin graft to help reconstruct the penis.

Proving that penis mutilation cases have lost little appeal since the infamous John Wayne Bobbit case (which inspired several songs and movies), the Houston Chronicle offered daily coverage this past week of the latest episode close to home, sparing readers few details.

Andrew Tilghman was the reporter faced with the challenge of writing these articles without making any "cutting" remarks.

A court reporter, he said he's used to seeing unusual stories -- once he even wrote about a woman who ran over a McDonald's manager after being refused mayonnaise. But this story prompted him to take precaution not to inject gratuitous humor or sarcasm.

"In addition to being a seemingly novel case about a man's penis being cut off, it's also a case about alleged domestic violence and rape," he said. "There are some serious issues going on there and you don't want to make light of those. And to some degree, if the paper does, that's better done by someone else, maybe in our features section."

Tilghman did say that there was snickering in the courthouse -? with remarks such as "motion to sever" -- in the weeks preceding the case. Once, in response to a question he asked about the duration of the trial, a court official responded, "I'll keep it short. I'll cut it off in a day or two."

Tilghman's editor on this case, Burke Watson, added that he had to take caution not to let seemingly innocent phrases make their way into the reports. He wanted to make sure that any slip -- he used the example of the saying, "to make a cutting remark" -- didn't make the newspaper look like it was trying to be funny.

He also said that the day-to-day coverage was necessary, even though it was only on the front page once. "It's the kind of thing people would be highly interested in. You can't help but identify with either of the characters in this little drama," he said.

Tilghman explained that so far, most of his reader response has been from women sympathizing with Ruiz.

"I'm surprised actually, given my Houston readership, that I didn't get more emails from men making light of something," he said. "You get a couple of e-mails just laughing but to be honest, I try to find stories that are sort of unusual for one reason or another so it's not uncommon to get lighthearted e-mails."

Another surprising aspect, Tilghman said, was that the victim was so open to speaking with reporters. Unfortunately, he only spoke Spanish, so Tilghman was unable to get a good interview.

Nevertheless, Tilghman said he thinks his reporting on this particular story is done. "I think the story is one of those that stands on its own," he explained. "You report what's happening and you move on."