A FATHER with a short fuse hit his former partner for teasing him with a bunch of bananas.

Leonard White, 33, of Holbein Square, Grange Park, admitted leaving Shirley Murkin with a bruise the size of an egg on the back of her head, Swindon Magis-trates were told.

The incident occurred after the now separated couple got into an argument about preparing food for their 14-year-old son.

Prosecutor Emmalyne Down-ing said the defendant wanted to take their child out.

When he refused to fetch a tin of food from a kitchen cupboard, his former partner picked up three bananas and poked him in the cheek.

"Suddenly she was knocked off her feet and fell straight back-wards."

But Andrew Hobson, defend-ing, said: "He did it after the injured party hit him six or seven times in the face."

Until the incident he was on perfectly good terms with her.

White agreed to attend an anger management and magis-trates adjourned the case for a pre-sentence domestic violence report. He will reappear at court on December 9.