An expectant father attacked his partner and was later caught drug-driving while she was going into labour, a court has heard.
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The Wodonga man, who can't be identified, punched the 29- weeks-pregnant woman near her torso after pushing her against a fence on April 27 last year.
They had argued after the man failed to attend a medical appointment about the pregnancy earlier in the day.
The Wodonga Magistrates Court heard the couple had argued after the physical altercation before the man dragged her out of their home by her feet.
Police attended and arrested the man, who said he had dragged the woman out "to defuse the altercation in the house".
He told the court the argument had actually been about the woman's ice use while pregnant with concerns about the fetus.
The man was intercepted by Wodonga police on June 28 and tested positive to ice and marijuana on the roadside about 3.15am.
He was undertaking a second test at the police station and received a call from the same victim to say her waters had broken and she needed to be taken to hospital.
Child protection authorities became involved after the child was born and the man was banned from seeing his partner.
The man breached a child protection order on August 6 by visiting the woman at her request and abusing protection workers by swearing at them and calling them "dogs".
The man was caught the following month with a tomahawk, ice, prescription pills, cannabis and a slingshot while driving in Wodonga.
The man has priors for drink and drug-driving, gun possession, making threats to kill, aggravated burglary, handling stolen goods and more.
Lawyer Chirag Patel said his client had a long-running cannabis issue and had stopped using ice six months ago.
He said he was now enrolled in treatment.
Prosecutor Liam Murdock noted the attack on his partner occured "some two months, eight weeks, before her water broke".
The man was banned from driving for a year and must perform 120 hours of unpaid community work.
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