A Moray man admitted to assaulting his pregnant girlfriend when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court.
Benjamin Smith, 20, plead guilty to charges of behaving in a threatening manner towards Mary Horrell and throwing her to the ground days after she announced she was carrying his child.
Smith, of 13 Cumming Street in Forres, yesterday plead guilty to threatening and abusing his girlfriend during an argument outside the home they share and on Bank Lane on December 20 last year.
He was charged with seizing Ms Horrell by the by the neck and placing her in a “bearhug” before throwing her to the ground and causing her to bang her head.
Smith was sentenced to 80 hours of community service, and will be under supervision for the next 18 months.
Addressing Smith, Sheriff James Hendry said he was “a thoughtless young man” and warned him: “If you’re in front of any court again for assaulting your girlfriend, or any other person, you will almost certainly go to jail.”
He added: “Going by the information before me, you will be absolutely no role model to the child this woman is carrying.”
Smith’s solicitor Simon Booker-Millburn conceded it was “perhaps very surprising” that the couple remained together.
He added: “There have been no further substantive problems since December.”