A Canberra man threatened to cut his unborn child out of his pregnant partner before he repeatedly punched her in the stomach.
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Benjamin Paul Day, 38, had tried to force the woman to have an abortion because she wanted to end their relationship.
When she refused to terminate, he attacked her and said: "You're not having this child. I'm getting rid of it. I will kill it before you have it."
Day appeared for sentence in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday before Magistrate Peter Morrison on charges of assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, property damage, and resisting arrest.
The court heard Day had been at a Watson unit with the victim and her mother on the morning of October 10 last year.
He became angry when she refused to continue their relationship – which had allegedly been marred by domestic violence - and called to book an abortion at a Sydney clinic.
"If you don't want to be with me, then you're not having this baby," he told her.
He then chased her into a bathroom when she told him she wanted the child.
She managed to call police and pass the phone to her mother before he forced his way into the room.
Day then punched the mother in the head, before putting the pregnant woman in a headlock and repeatedly punching her in the stomach.
He told her he would kill the child or cut it out of her.
Day then shoved the woman into a bath, pushed the mother on top, and then continued to hit them both.
He stopped when told the police were on the way, and forced the two women to leave the flat with him.
But the pregnant woman managed to run to a nearby flat and lock herself inside.
Day attempted to break in, causing damage to the door, but fled when police arrived.
He was arrested in Braddon the following day.
The court heard he had been on parole at the time of the offences after serving a sentence for assaulting another former partner.
Day's parole has since been cancelled and is serving that sentence.
Defence lawyer Mary-Anne Ellis on Wednesday said her client had a long-history of substance abuse and had entered rehabilitation programs in order to help turn his life around.
Ms Ellis said the scourge of ice had wrought havoc with Day's life.
But prosecutor James Walker argued the scourge before the court had been one of domestic violence.
Mr Walker submitted both victims had the right to feel safe in their home and said offences – which he characterised as upper range – had been aggravated by the pregnant woman's vulnerable state and his parole status.
The magistrate sentence Day to two years and two months' jail, to be added to his current sentence for other unrelated offences, with a non-parole period of 11 months.
Day will be eligible for release in September.
