Grant Roger Coles, 28, appeared in Horsham Magistrates' Court on Wednesday last week.

He pleaded guilty to 10 counts of persistently contravening a family violence order, possessing cartridge ammunition, contravening a personal safety intervention order, and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Belinda Ryan said Coles had been controlling and intimidating towards a western Victorian woman.

The court heard the woman made a statement to police on May 8 about her relationship with Coles.

She told police that across a nine-month period, Coles was verbally abusive and controlling.

The court heard that Coles would threaten to take his own life if she didn't do what he wanted and the woman was afraid to leave him.

Coles would check her phone and social media accounts and was controlling about where she went and her appearance.

The woman told police she deleted all her social media accounts because it was easier than copping a "barrage of abuse" about it from Coles.

The court heard the woman tried to leave once but Coles jumped onto the bonnet of her car.

Coles was arrested and in a police interview he said the woman could have left at any time.

He told police he was angry because the woman had never told him how she felt, but she had told police.

"If she is so scared of me, why does she hug me?" he asked police.

The court heard that there was an intervention order in place between Coles and the victim's mother and on January 21, Coles breached the order by being outside her house.

Defence lawyer Nick Graham said there was a lack of particularity in the woman's claims, with no dates and times of incidents and no specific details of threats.

He said since being in custody Coles had been a model prisoner and now received drug and alcohol counselling and would enrol in a men's behaviour change program.

He said the woman lived with her parents before moving into a caravan with Coles and she never told her parents about Coles' behaviour.

Magistrate Peter Dunn said the woman was probably too terrified to tell anyone.

"Domineering behaviour is often worse than physical violence because people live in fear," he said.

"Their lives are made into an absolute misery because they have to walk on eggshells."

Mr Dunn said Coles' behaviour was insidious and persistent.

He said Coles would twist the emotions of the victim, by telling her he would take his own life until she obeyed his every whim.

Mr Dunn sentenced Coles to one year in jail, with a non-parole period of six months.

Coles has already served 50 days.

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