A man left his former partner needing stitches after he threw a can at her face.
David Nicholls, 29, breached a restraining order for the fourth time when he attacked his ex on December 23 last year as she walked home from a shop in Cardiff.
The woman had heard someone shouting 50 metres behind her. She turned to see Nicholls "berating" her and "mumbling incoherently", prosecutor Peter Donnison told Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday.
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Mr Donnison added: "He appeared intoxicated. The victim advised him she would be calling police and continued walking home. She turned around to check he had left the area and was struck to the left side of the face with what she believes to be a can."
Nicholls fled the area. The victim was left with a black eye and her face was bleeding. She spent 12 hours in hospital where she needed four to six stitches to close a wound in her cheek.
An order restraining Nicholls from contacting the woman had been imposed in June 2020 after he was convicted of battery against her. He has breached the order four time - including throwing a shoe at his ex in May last year.
Following the latest incident Nicholls, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and breaching a restraining order while under a 12-week suspended jail term for one of the previous attacks.
Christopher Evans, mitigating, said: "He was living on the streets and drinking alcohol heavily. He has told me if he was sober he would not have breached the order. It is the consumption of alcohol which causes him to act in that way but he does not say it is an excuse for his offending. He puts his hands up fully."
Mr Evans added his client is working to address his alcohol and anger management issues, adding: "He has had time to sober up in prison. He is disgusted with his behaviour."
Judge Richard Williams said: "The photo I have seen of the cut [to the victim's face] suggests some scarring is probably inevitable. This could easily have been charged as an offence of Section 20 [wounding] and arguably it should have been. This was a serious and flagrant breach of a restraining order causing serious harm."
The judge sentenced Nicholls to 28 months in jail for the latest offences and activated the 12-week suspended prison term. He also imposed a new 10-year restraining order.
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