A SWINDON man punched a door then smashed his girlfriend’s car light, a court heard.

Raife Baverstock, 26, was living at his then partner’s home in Malmesbury when they argued on September 9 last year.

Prosecutor Kate Prince told Swindon Magistrates’ Court that Baverstock had earlier grudgingly agreed to look after the woman’s children while she left the house.

She later told him that “everyone would be happier” if she left. He was said to have replied: “I don’t give a f***.” He grew angry and punched the living room door twice then, as he left for a neighbour’s house, kicked the front door and her car’s headlights.

Mark Glendenning, mitigating, said his client told his then partner the day before that he would leave after an argument and she said he shouldn’t. He accepted punching the door in “anger and frustration because he wanted to get away”. He struggled with his mental health.

Baverstock, of Gooch Street, Swindon, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage.

The magistrates fined him £80 and ordered he pay £119 in costs and surcharge.