Although he said he could not protect her forever, Acting Magistrate Carlisle Greaves vowed to protect a woman as much as he could by sending her husband to jail for three months for attacking her with a fire extinguisher.

Robert Williams, of the Leopards Club on Cedar Avenue, appeared in court on Friday charged with threatening, harassing, assaulting and violating a domestic protection order concerning his wife, Lynn.

The couple are separated and are currently going through a divorce. The court granted a domestic protection order forbidding Williams to have any contact whatsoever with his wife on January 26, for 12 months.

Crown counsel Shade Subair told the court Williams showed up at his wife's home at 1 a.m., a mere nine hours before he appeared in Plea Court.

Ms Williams was woken by a knocking at the door, said Ms Subair, and when she went down to open the door she saw her husband, "ranting and raving and shouting obscenities".

Forcing his way into the home, Ms Subair said Williams grabbed his wife by the hair and pushed her on to the couch. Using a bike helmet, he smashed a chair and the dining room table. Then, threatening to kill her, he grabbed a fire extinguisher and began to attack his wife.

Finally he left. The Police were called, and they stopped Williams outside. "I came from my wife's house," he told officers. "We had a dispute, I didn't hit her."

In court, although he pleaded guilty, Williams maintained that he did not hit his wife, claiming it was she who took the fire extinguisher from the wall.

He told Mr. Greaves the reason he had gone to his wife's house was because earlier she had visited his home, leaving a note which he said talked of getting their children for Easter.

"So Easter was at one o'clock at night?" asked Mr. Greaves. "There was definitely alcohol involved, your Honour," said the defendant. "Oh, I see," was the reply.

In light of the seriousness of the matter, Ms Subair said the Crown was urging a custodial sentence be imposed immediately. "Hear this and hear it well," said Mr. Greaves.

Only court can lift a domestic protection order, he said. "She (the wife) cannot bury it.

"The facts are serious enough that while I cannot protect this woman forever, I can for a while. A man in jail cannot enter a woman's house at one in the morning - that's a fact. For three months we are guaranteed that."