A Mandurah man who bashed a woman while her four-year-old child was present was convicted of aggravated assault causing bodily harm on Friday.
Dwayne Frederick Leigh Collins, 22, appeared in Mandurah Magistrates Court via video from Hakea Prison where he has spent 119 days in custody.
He pleaded guilty to three offences, including two which involved the mother of the young child.
The court heard Collins was at an Allnutt Street address on January 31 when he struck the woman with a metal spatula.
He then pulled her backwards by her hair and punched her so hard a tooth was dislodged.
Collins kicked the woman several times and told her she was “not allowed to tell anybody”.
in an unrelated incident, Collins also assaulted a staff member at a local pharmacy on March 23.
It was after this offence he was placed in custody.
Counsel for Collins said her client had “intellectual deficits” and had started using cannabis at aged 11, before becoming a heroin user at 14 years old.
The lawyer said Collins had no history of violence.
Magistrate Vivien Edwards said Collins was in “dire need of intervention”.
She said time already served by him was equivalent to an eight-month sentence and placed him on a nine-month community based order.
Collins will be required to under anger management and drug counselling.
He will stand trial on other related charges next year.