A man who assaulted his partner so violently that he broke her arm, and who later swerved his car into hers on a Napier street, has been sentenced to 10 months of home detention.

Henderson Sone Momoisea, 40, appeared via audio-visual link from prison for sentencing in the Napier District Court on Tuesday.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of assault with intent to injure, burglary, reckless driving and possessing pipes for methamphetamine and cannabis.

Judge Gordon Matenga referred to a victim impact statement by the woman with whom Momoisea had a short-term relationship, in which she wrote that she thought that he would kill her.

"She is scared of you and what you are capable of doing," Judge Matenga said.

Defence counsel Eric Forster said Momoisea's use of methamphetamine had clouded his judgement.

He had been in custody on remand for two months and 26 days, and that period of enforced abstinence from drugs had provided him with insight.

"He has had that long period of custody to get himself off methamphetamine," Forster said.

The judge said that in December last year, Momoisea attacked the woman after an argument.

He pushed her, punched her, kicked her legs and hit her on the back of the head, forcing her to the ground. When she tried to stand, placing her weight on her arm, she could not. He pushed her back to the ground.

"The blow to her arm was sufficiently powerful to break her arm," Judge Matenga said.

Two months later, the woman was driving in Napier and in her rear-view mirror saw Momoisea behind her in a blue Toyota.

He sped up and rear-ended her and when she tried to evade him, pulled alongside her vehicle and swerved into it.

The woman drove to a police station. Her car sustained damage to its rear and side.

In May, Momoisea turned up at a house where the woman was staying and kicked the locked door open, breaking the door frame.

He took her handbag and keys, and a Samsung phone from her pocket.

The handbag and phone were later found in a hot water cupboard by police, who searched Momoisea's house and also discovered a cannabis pipe, loose cannabis and a methamphetamine pipe.

Forster argued for a home detention sentence, saying Momoisea had prospects for rehabilitation, had been referred to stopping violence counselling and was a capable person who was able to earn his own living.

"His challenge is to remain drug-free and get himself sorted out," Forster said.

The judge calculated the offending warranted a prison sentence of 20 months, but said he was required by the Sentencing Act to impose the least restrictive sentence.

Taking the purposes and principles of the act into account and the recommendation of a pre-sentence report, he commuted the sentence to 10 months of home detention.

The judge issued a protection order for the victim, ordered $500 reparation for the burglary and imposed conditions for Momoisea to abstain from alcohol and drugs. He will also have to undergo a stopping violence course and an assessment for alcohol and drug treatment.

Convicted people with prison sentences of less than two years typically serve half of their term, and may be considered for home detention, which has a maximum of one year.

In 2007, Momoisea was jailed for four years for aggravated robbery, wounding with intent and injuring with intent after a home invasion described in court as a drug robbery which went horribly wrong.

- Ric Stevens, Open Justice