A DUNFERMLINE man has avoided a jail sentence for assaulting his former partner, leaving her with a broken nose, a fractured cheekbone and losing 10 teeth.

Stuart Mitchell was attempting to throw the woman out of his home when she was injured.

The incident happened after the couple had been drinking at Stuart Mitchell’s house, had an argument and he was trying to eject her, Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard.

Mitchell, 41, of Law Road, admitted that on October 20 last year at his home, he assaulted his former partner, seized her by the body, dragged her from a couch, along the floor and removed her from the property. He then seized her by the hair, pulled her onto the floor, dragged her towards a door and pushed her body causing her to strike her head against a door all to her severe injury.

The court previously heard that the couple had been in a relationship for four years up until the incident.

They had been drinking together at his home on that day. At around 1am they started arguing and Mitchell had gone to bed leaving his partner still drinking in the living room.

Before 6am, he had got up and asked her either to go to bed or leave as his child would be arriving later.

The court was told that she refused and began verbally abusing Mitchell, who reacted by attacking her and dragging her out of the flat.

She started banging on the door and Mitchell let her back in. However, another struggle began when she knocked over a coffee table smashing the glass.

He then dragged her back towards the door resulting in her striking her face against the door frame.

Later, she was taken to hospital where she was found to have a fractured nose, a hairline fracture to her right cheekbone and 10 of her teeth had to be removed.

Defence solicitor Jenny Simpson said the woman had admitted she tipped over a coffee table three times to annoy her client and he had “lost his temper”.

Sheriff Charles Macnair told Mitchell: “The complainer was in your house. You’d told her to leave and she didn’t do so. You were entitled to use reasonable force but you went beyond that.”

The sheriff said the circumstances of the case were “unusual”. He imposed a community payback order with 12 months’ supervision and restriction of liberty order for four months.