A 33-year-old man who hit his defacto partner with a bamboo and guava stick has been sentenced to 4 months imprisonment by Resident Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne.
Vasoni Banawa was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He had pleaded guilty to the offence.
He was in a defacto relationship with the victim for the last three years.
On the 31st of July 2017, when the victim told Banawa to leave the leftover food for the children, he got angry and punched her head and back and also hit her with a bamboo and guava stick.
The victim was also 3 months pregnant at the time of the incident.
While delivering the sentence, Magistrate Somaratne said the tariff of this offence appears to range from an absolute or conditional discharge to 12 months imprisonment.
Magistrate Somaratne said the mitigating factors which he considered were that Banawa was a 33-year-old farmer who was married with three children and is also a first offender.
He said that in this case he finds a breach of trust as the victim was 3 months pregnant.
Magistrate Somaratne said a custodial sentence is warranted to denounce the behaviour and deter these incidents from happening in the future.
He has also granted a permanent domestic violence restraining order for the safety of the victim.
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