A drunk man who beat his partner and her sister after they refused to cook him dinner only stopped when his 8-year-old daughter and her grandfather intervened.

Plumber Aaron Shane Harris, 22, was found guilty of two charges of assaulting a female and one of threatening behaviour when he appeared in Blenheim District Court on Monday.

He was sentenced to six months' community detention in Whangarei, six months of supervision, 150 hours of community work and ordered to pay each victim $450.

A protection order was put in place to protect his victims from him.

Judge Richard Russell said Harris was drinking with a friend at his partner's house in Picton on March 15 when he asked her to cook him dinner, she refused and he argued with her and her sister.

He threw one of the women across the room and punched the other several times in the face, leaving her with cuts and bruising, Judge Russell said.

Harris then slammed the face of one of the women into the ground and dragged her by the hair.

The violence stopped when Harris's 8-year-old daughter and her grandfather woke up and intervened, Judge Russell said.

Harris told police he acted in self-defence and felt his partner's relatives were interfering in their relationship.

Reading from the partner's victim impact statement, Judge Russell said the incident had broken up the family.

"This incident has ruined our future. The children cry every night for their father.

"We were financially on top of things. I thought he was making the changes needed."

Judge Russell said Harris needed to be kept away from the victims and would have been facing a prison term if he had had previous violent convictions.

- The Marlborough Express

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