Bashed in front of girl

A MAN repeatedly punched his ex-wife in the face in front of their four-year-old daughter leaving the woman swollen and bruised.

Jerome Balen will spend until June 25 in prison after he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars. He pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to assault occasioning bodily harm and common assault.

Judge Katherine McGinness described the attack on February 19 last year as “cowardly” and “very brutal”.

“You punched (her) in the face and pushed her to the ground,” she said. “You continued the attack despite your mother trying to stop you.”

The court was told the woman had visited Balen not long after their 20-year marriage dissolved.

Judge McGinness said she accepted Balen had witnessed domestic violence as a child growing up in South Africa.