A man's drunken, drawn-out choking of his girlfriend because he was woken in the back seat of a car has shocked a magistrate for the level of violence involved.
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Richard Funston said what Michael Rizzo inflicted on the victim was not the usual example of what such a charge involved.
"He's seriously facing jail for this," Mr Funston said.
"I can tell you now, he's not getting bail from me. It's a pretty ugly assault."
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Mr Funston suggested to Rizzo's lawyer, David Barron, that he might want to discuss with his client the possibility of withdrawing his application for bail.
After a brief adjournment, Mr Barron returned to Albury Local Court to tell Mr Funston the application would not proceed.
Rizzo, a 27-year-old Queensland man in a video link to Junee jail, began to sob.
He earlier pleaded guilty to intentionally choke person, destroy or damage property, common assault, intimidation and resist police.
Police said Rizzo and the victim, who lived in Wodonga, had been in a relationship for six months at the time of the offence, when she was nine weeks' pregnant to the laborer.
She was at a girlfriend's North Albury home on October 5 when the pair decided about 8pm to have a night out.
The friend found Rizzo passed out in the back of the car so she told him to go to bed.
Rizzo stirred and said: "(The victim's) nothing but a whore because she wants to go out."
At one point, the victim lent down to pick up something, so Rizzo deliberately opened the car door and slammed it twice into her shoulder.
She told him off so Rizzo punched her, giving her a blood nose.
He stepped in close, so she pushed him away. He then began choking her, squeezing so hard she almost passed out.
The friend felt the tension in his arms as she tried to rescue the victim.
Rizzo also banged her head into the ground and soon after, punched her several times to the head.
Mr Funston ordered a sentence assessment report and adjourned all charges to December 10.