A father who raped his estranged wife after breaking into her apartment was jailed for two years yesterday.

The 29-year-old Pembroke man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been convicted of grievous bodily harm and sexual assault in February for the attack at the woman's Southampton home last August.

However he had been found not guilty of breaking into his estranged wife's home with intent to murder her, despite pulling out a knife during the rape and telling Police officers that he had intended to kill her.

Prosecutor Charmaine Smith called for sentence of at least five years after pointing out his history of violence against women, going back to his school days.

However defence lawyer Larry Mussenden called it a crime of passion saying that his client was remorseful and unlikely to attack other women.

He said his client had a long history of drug use and that heroin had messed up his relationship with his wife, his school career and his job. He said: "He is not a predator type of person."

Mr. Mussenden called for a sentence of four years, with two years to be served inside while the other two would be suspended pending drug treatment.

Judge Charles-Etta Simmons expressed concern that the attacker had said in his trial that he thought sex with his wife was his right.

In his trial he had admitting hitting his wife but claimed the sex was consensual.

But yesterday the defendant apologised in court to his wife and to other women in the community.

Mrs. Simmons sentenced the man to two years for each count to run concurrently.

She ordered him to take anger management, substance abuse and sex offender programmes at Westgate and gave him three year's probation.

He was ordered to undergo a six-month residential drug treatment programme upon his release and was also given a curfew and told not to use drink and drugs.

She said: "This is the most generous opportunity this court can give to you. The criminal code amendment act requires we take into account circumstances but I can't ignore the seriousness of the offence you committed."

The judge also lectured the defendant on the need to be sure consent had been given before he had sex with a women.