A man who repeatedly assaulted his partner over the course of a year has been jailed for two years.
But 45-year-old Dunedin man Christopher Michael Harris, who was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court last week, will be immediately released because of the time he spent behind bars awaiting trial.
A jury found him guilty of four counts of assaulting a female and one of injuring with intent to injure, and he admitted a count of intimidation.
Harris was acquitted on more serious charges.
The violence began in December 2016 when the defendant discovered his partner had been seeing someone else.
When she arrived home, he was drunk.
Judge Michael Crosbie said it was understandable that Harris was upset about the state of their relationship but his reaction was inexcusable.
''On any analysis, your behaviour towards her was overbearing and violent,'' he said.
The most serious element of the assault was a kick to the victim's thigh that left her limping for a significant time.
There was another attack in May 2017 and matters came to a head in November that year.
After yet another argument, Harris pushed the woman's head into a wall and spat in her face.
The next day he bit her arm.
That, the victim said, was the most shocking episode.
''She couldn't believe it happened,'' Judge Crosbie said.
When the woman finally left the home, Harris continued to plague her.
He subjected her to a two-day barrage of threatening text messages.
Counsel Len Andersen rejected the Crown's assertion that the offending represented a breach of trust.
''The incidents occurred during the disintegration of a relationship,'' he said.
But the judge was not persuaded. If the victim had breached Harris' trust by entering a relationship with another person, he had done the same by continually assaulting her.
''You can't have it both ways,'' he said.
The court heard Harris proposed to move away once his sentence, which included fulfilling release conditions, was served.
Judge Crosbie ordered a protection order in favour of the victim.
