A TASMANIAN man bashed and choked his girlfriend until she blacked out after he tried to leave the scene where she engaged him in a threesome.

The Supreme Court in Burnie heard the woman brought her female friend along on a camping trip last April and confessed to her partner, Phillip Hilton Bissett, that she was bisexual.

She plied Bissett, 44, with alcohol to make him "more receptive" to the notion of a threesome.

The court heard the three engaged in some "mild intimacy" but, as the two women became more involved with each other, Bissett decided to leave.

He drove off but, drunk, crashed into bushes. His partner ran after him and tried to take the car keys from him.

By this stage others in the camping area were looking on.

As the woman again grabbed at the keys, Bissett slapped her and pushed her to the ground.

She tried to run off, but Bissett punched her to the head, chest and back before choking her until she lost consciousness.

The victim suffered bruising and a sore neck but recovered.

Bissett spent the night and next day in police custody.

He pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of assault.

Justice David Porter said the relationship continued and the pair had since become engaged.

"She has been reluctant to see the matter pursued," Justice Porter said.

"I am told, and I accept, that there was no violence in this relationship, nor has there been since."

The judge said domestic violence cases were normally considered a serious breach of trust in a relationship.

"I accept that you are remorseful and that there is little likelihood of repetition," he said.



"It must be noted that the events were witnessed or heard by a number of children and young persons."

Bissett received a three-month jail sentence, wholly suspended on condition he is of good behaviour for two years.

Originally published as Threesome request ends in choking