A MAGISTRATE has warned a man who repeatedly strangled his partner in a violent attack that he would "show no mercy" if he reoffended.
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The 29-year-old man appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court last week where he pleaded guilty to charges including unlawful assault, criminal damage, and intentionally causing serious injury.
The court heard a family violence intervention order was issued in August last year, after the man assaulted his partner and smashed a fan at her home.
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The man was ordered not to contact or go near the woman, but in January this year he started living in the woman's home with his two children.
The court heard about 6.15pm on March 2, the man returned to the home heavily intoxicated.
The woman questioned him about his drinking and he became verbally abusive. The man's two young children were also at home at the time.
The man grabbed the woman around the throat and held her up against a brick wall so her feet couldn't touch the ground.
The woman lost consciousness and woke to see him standing over her and yelling abuse.
The man grabbed the victim by the throat again before she was released, coughing.
The man threw a chair at the victim and grabbed a table, throwing it in her direction, before punching a glass table several times.
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The woman moved to the bathroom but the man followed her and locked them inside.
The man strangled her again and she fell to the floor. He grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth, telling her to shut her mouth after she screamed for help.
The man kicked her on the back of the head as he left the room and the woman moved to the kitchen.
The woman was hyperventilating as he stepped up to her face and grabbed her around the neck again, telling her he could kill her.
The court heard she moved to the bedroom but he continued to follow, grabbing her face and choking her neck while pushing her onto a bed.
The man's friend came into the room and eventually convinced the man to leave the property. The woman contacted police who arrived a short time later.
The man returned to the house at 10.40pm that night and was arrested. He could not be interviewed because he was too intoxicated.
Defence lawyer Rebecca Healy told the court the victim continued to support the 29-year-old man as did his employer.
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Ms Healy said the man had no prior convictions for violence offences and he was looking for treatment for his drug and alcohol issues.
The defence lawyer said the lack of prior convictions showed while it was a "very serious" incident of "dreadful" assaults, it was "out of the blue and out of character".
Ms Healy told the court her client had already served 45 days in pre-sentence detention.
She said he should be released on a community corrections order so he could receive treatment, which would also protect the community.
Magistrate Rodney Higgins told the man while he would give him a chance, he was lucky.
"In the majority of family violence cases where a woman is killed by her partner, there is a preceding incident where a man chokes a woman," Mr Higgins said. "This could have ended tragically.
"I'm amazed this woman is willing to have you back. If you had any priors, I wouldn't let you out of jail for 12 months.
"If you come back before me, I will show you no mercy."
Mr Higgins indicated he would sentence the man to the time he already served in prison, along with a two-year community corrections order.
The order would include judicial monitoring, supervision, drugs and alcohol counselling, and men's behavioural change programs.
The man was remanded in custody until Tuesday so he could undergo the corrections assessment.
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