Matthew Hope, 25, and formerly of Raglan Parade, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates yesterday to unlawful assault, criminal damage, contravening a family violence order and breaching a suspended sentence.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said if intervention orders were to be effective the court had to impose sentences which reflected the seriousness of the offending.

“It finally seems the penny has dropped,” he said.

“Family violence or domestic violence is a significant problem in our community.

“The amount of female victims, mainly female, killed in the last several years is very high indeed.”

Mr Klestadt said Hope’s was an horrendous assault where the victim needed to flee to the police for help.

“This matter requires immediate imprisonment,” he said.

“It’s a serious assault, it’s not a minor assault and it’s the same sort of offending that has been happening again and again.”

Police prosecutor Sergeant Sandra Skilton said on July 28 last year Hope had been drinking with a friend when he returned home to the victim and her children.

She said Hope fell asleep on the lounge room floor before he got up and started abusing and harassing the victim in front of her children.

He then threw the phone through the window and threw the victim to the ground and pulled her hair to the point where it was ripped from her scalp.

The victim then grabbed her car keys and drove to the police station.

Hope gave no reason for the assault when interviewed by police. The court heard Hope was serving a suspended sentence at the time of the offence for an unlawful assault on the same victim.

Defence lawyer Patrick McComish said Hope had not had contact with the victim since November last year.

He said the woman was facing recklessly causing serious injury charges after she allegedly sliced Hope’s hand with a knife.

He said Hope hadn’t had a drink of alcohol until his 18th birthday but became a serious drinker by the age of 21.

“He faces a crossroads at the ripe age of 25,” he said.

Mr Klestadt sentenced Hope to three months’ jail.