Kristopher Bradley's "dehumanizing" treatment of a partner — confining the woman and forcing her to urinate in a bucket in the basement of her home — painted a gruesome picture of their relationship.
Over and over again, he verbally and physically assaulted the woman, a judge heard Thursday.
The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to eight charges stemming from incidents that occurred during a three-month period.
He was convicted of forcible confinement, threatening, three counts of assault and three probation breaches.
At 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, city police responded to a call about intimate partner violence in the north end area of Lake Street.
Officers encountered a woman on the street who told them Bradley was at her residence and that she had escaped from him, assistant Crown attorney Chris Thompson said.
"He had punched her in the face with a closed fist and threatened to kill her if she contacted police."
Ontario Court Justice John Condon heard the victim disclosed numerous incidents of violence.
She also indicated Bradley was verbally assaultive every time she had to use the washroom and forced her to urinate in a bucket in the basement.
He punched her in the face on two occasions in November when they were at a Great Northern Road motel.
The Crown and defence jointly proposed a sentence of 10 months jail, followed by three years probation.
Bradley has a relatively recent record that is long and violent, Thompson told the court.
His record, which began in 1994, includes convictions for assault causing bodily harm, three counts of assault with a weapon, plus other assaults.
The accused's guilty pleas saved the victim from having to relive the multiple incidents in her head as she testified in court in front strangers and Bradley, the prosecutor said.
He called the "gruesome facts" before the court an aggravating factor.
Defence lawyer Ken Walker said "we're dealing with two people — the complainant and accused — with very bad addictions."
There is no corroboration of anything she indicates occurred, he told Condon, questioning whether the woman was realistically going to show up for trial.
His client, who is originally from Elliot Lake, has been a drug user for 22 years, and a lot of the time he became involved with other addicts.
"Birds of a feather," Walker said. "There is a state people get into and there is bad behaviour."
Bradley's mother passed away three years ago.
"He lost his rock in his words and his drug addiction went to a new plateau."
The defence added Bradley also has mental health issues, including personality disorder and depression, and "he says they keep him well medicated at the jail."
When asked if he had anything to say, the offender told Condon: "I'm not really a bad person, I made bad decisions," adding "I apologize to her."
When he imposed the sentence, the judge said given Bradley"s "horrendous" criminal record and the "dehumanizing" treatment he inflicted on the woman "incarceration is appropriate."
With the enhanced credit Bradley received for the time he's been in custody since his arrest, he faces a further 31 days behind bars.
Once he's done serving the remainder of his jail term, he will be on probation for three years — the maximum permitted under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Bradley must not communicate with the victim, can't be within 200 metres of her and must undergo counselling for anger management, substance use and domestic violence.
"She's out of your life for the next three years," Condon told him.
"At your age one would hope you have decided the time has come in your life to treat people better."
The judge also imposed a life-time weapons prohibition and ordered Bradley to provide a DNA sample to the national database.