Kidney Giver Accused of Pantie Sniffing
Wife says hubbie's jealousy drove him to bizarre extremes
Tuesday, Jan 13, 2009 | Updated 7:30 AM EDT
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Did he really think his wife was putting dirty underwear back in the drawer?
Last week Dr. Richard Batista made worldwide headlines with his demand that his estranged wife compensate him for the kidney he donated to her. Now his wife is trying to paint a picture of her ex as a deranged jealous lunatic.
"[He] was rummaging though her underwear drawer and sniffing her underwear," trying to catch the telltale stench of infidelity, Dawnell Batista's lawyer Douglas Rothkopf told the court, reported the New York Daily News.
Three years after the Batista's marriage fell apart amid allegations that she was having an affair with her personal trainer, the pair are finally in divorce court, where things have gotten ugly fast.
Richard has made it known that he wants $1.5 million for the kidney he gave his then-ailing wife eight years ago, an act his lawyer Dominic Barbara called "godlike."
"He wants to tell the world what happened in this case because it's a tragedy," said Barbara. "This is a man who put his life on the line, and his wife treated him like a piece of dirt, garbage."
Now the pair are fighting over whether or not their should be a gag order on their proceedings.
"His wife's attorney is the one who mentioned sniffing panties, and that's going to be the headline somewhere," Barbara said.
