A man in his forties, who will not be named to protect his victim’s identity, pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge in the Mandurah Magistrates Court on Friday.
The court heard that on March 31, 2017, the man and his 19-year-old step-daughter had a verbal argument in their Golden Bay Home.
Police prosecution said the man walked towards the victim in a threatening way, pushed her in the chest and hit her on the right-hand side of her face.
Though the man’s defence lawyer disputed that he had walked towards the victim in a threatening way, she said the accused accepted that he was the adult in the situation, and he should have behaved as such.
The lawyer added that spending two nights in custody had “scared the living daylights out of [her client],” and he was very ashamed of his actions.
Because he had no prior record, and had since separated from his wife and her daughter, the magistrate granted the man a spent conviction and fined him $1200 with $98.50 court costs.