A MAN who punched his partner in the face after she returned to his home looking for her bank card has been ordered to do unpaid work.

Thomas Fraser, 50, of Bruce Street, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

He had previously admitted that on September 10, at his home, he assaulted his partner and punched her on the head to her injury.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court that the couple had been in an "on and off" relationship for around nine years and resided separately.

They had been drinking before Fraser asked the woman to leave at around 8pm.

After departing, she returned as she had left her bank card and an argument broke out on her return, the court was told.

Fraser told her she wasn't getting her bank card and punched her on the face.

Solicitor Rosni Joshi said her client had expressed "regret and disgust with himself" regarding his conduct.

"Alcohol has been a feature in the relationship and on the date in question, when the complainer returned to the property and was requesting her bank card, the concern was she would go and buy more alcohol and he was concerned about that," she said. "He fully accepts he didn't go about it the right way."

Sheriff Alastair Brown ordered Fraser to do 200 hours of unpaid work within six months,

"You went to a group work programme which was intended to help you understand why it is a bad idea and wrong to hit women – you don't appear to have learned that lesson and I am not proposing to offer you any more teaching on that," he added.