“It was a dog act,” Powell said in his letter.

“I don’t know if you are fair dinkum, but with the greatest respect you have no idea how many times I have heard that story,” Mr Lucas said.

Powell’s Aboriginal legal aid solicitor Clancy Dane asked the magistrate to consider an intensive corrections order, which Mr Lucas agreed to.

He placed Powell on a 12-month intensive corrections order on the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The order is an alternative to a full-time prison sentence and means Powell will have to report to authorities on a regular basis and do 32 hours of community service a month for the duration of the order.

He must also attend rehabilitation programs and be subject to random drug and alcohol tests.

“The letter written by my client is a sincere expression of remorse and he is pleading guilty,” Mr Dane said.

“He feels his family is slowly falling apart because of this,” he said.

Mr Dane said after spending three months and four days in jail his client was keen to make amends and would comply with any court conditions.

“He is a man who saw his fair share of domestic violence while he was growing up,” Mr Dane said.

Powell also faced the court on charges of resisting an officer in the execution of duty, entering enclosed land without a lawful excuse and contravening an apprehended violence order.

He has been ordered to stay away from certain streets in Orange frequented by the victim and an apprehended violence order to protect the victim has been put in place for 12 months.

He was fined $300 for illegally entering a premises and placed on bonds for the remaining offences.

“Good luck and if what you have told me is true I hope we never meet again,” Mr Lucas told Powell.