The 36-year-old Warrnambool district man, who cannot be named because that could identify the victim, previously pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court in November last year to the persistent contravention of a court order, intentionally damaging property, threatening to inflict serious injury, unlawful assault and trespassing.

The charges related to a number of incidents between September 15 and 24 last year, when the man attended his former partner's property despite a court order prohibiting him from doing so.

On one occasion, he entered the house and when the victim locked herself in the room, he kicked the door, creating a hole and causing the wood to splinter.

He attended the house again three days later and continued to verbally abuse the woman before punching her to the head and telling her he would "cave (her) head in."

He then picked up a one kilogram dumbbell and attempted to hit the woman to the head, but she shielded the blow with her arms, causing bruising to her left forearm.

The man punched a hole in the spare bedroom door and the woman fled the property.

Police attended the home and located an unused capped syringe believed to be left behind by the accused.

The incident occurred about three months after the man was released from jail for similar offending against the same victim.

He was jailed for 15 months with a non-parole period of 11 months.

The man appealed against the severity of the sentence in Warrnambool County Court last week.

His lawyer Amanda Burnnard urged the judge to consider a shorter sentence without a parole period.

She said her client had made positive progress in the 128 days spent in custody, including maintaining abstinence from drugs, medication compliance, becoming a peer support worker and obtaining a trusted position as a gardener.

She said if released from prison, the man would have stable accommodation with his parents, something he had not had for sometime, as well as drug and alcohol support services and a real urge to turn his life around.

"The long term goal is to get to Geelong or Melbourne as he recognises he needs to get way from associates to break that circuit (of using drugs and re-offending)," Ms Burnnard said.

But Judge Paul Higham said the court had to be realistic.

He said the offender had a history of drug use, of failing to take medication for his mental illness and a long history of similar offending, including no fewer than 10 findings of guilty for the breach or contravention of a family violence order involving the same victim.

"Men who constantly commit family violence go on to kill," the judge said.

"Only two days ago a woman was stabbed in front of her children by her domestic partner. It is something the court is doing their best to grapple with and will always do their best to protect, primarily women, who are the victims of family violence."

The judge said when considering the man's history, he was "exactly the type of profile of offender who goes on to kill".

"He now has some clarity because I'm assuming he has chosen not to use meth (in jail) and has been medication complaint, but you're asking the court to take a leap of faith at best, that those aspirations translate to actions when outside," he told the lawyer.

"It is too risky for him to go straight back into the community right now."

The judge re-sentenced the man to the same 15-month jail term but shortened his non-parole period to nine months. The offender has already served 128 days of his sentence, meaning he will be eligible for parole in about July.

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