A man who assaulted a woman and resisted police was jailed for two years when he appeared in Nelson District Court.
Judge Richard Russell also ordered that Mark Anthony Carroll pay $2000 reparation and suspended his driver's licence indefinitely.
The court was also told 37-year-old Carroll tried to flick faeces at police.
Carroll had previously been found guilty of assaulting a female and resisting police, the Nelson Mail reported.
He had also previously admitted two charges of driving while disqualified.
Judge Russell said that on January 9 Carroll had been drinking at a bar in Richmond when he went to the house of the victim and became verbally abusive.
He assaulted her and when police arrived he was uncooperative and had to be subdued with pepper spray.
Defence lawyer Tim Spear said Carroll had a predisposition to violence, but not necessarily violence towards women.
Judge Russell said Carroll had nine pages of convictions stretching back to 1985, and these latest disqualified driving convictions were his 14th and 15th.
He said the victim of the assault was left terrified for herself and her child, and was emotionally shattered.
A victim impact report from a police officer said Carroll tried to flick faeces at him and at other officers while in the cells.
