Police acting on a report of domestic violence used a translator device to speak with a distraught wife.
PC Philip Miller told a jury he and a colleague visited the home near Bristol and found the mum-of-two very distressed and upset.
She had little English but managed to tell him: "Please help me."
Her 35-year-old husband denies common assault and two charges of causing cruelty to a person under 16.
It is alleged he assaulted his wife and hit, pinched and burned his girls.
Bristol Live is not naming him to protect the identities of the complainants.
PC Miller said he arrived at the home in November last year and could hear youngsters screaming and crying.
He described how he took the wife into the living room but found communicating in her native tongue difficult.
He told the jury he then made use of a phone-based language translator service in order to talk with her.
PC Miller said: "She made reference to the fact she had been assaulted by her partner.
"She said he grabbed her 'round the throat and bent her arm back.
"She made reference to her partner assaulting her two children."
The court heard the husband was duly arrested on suspicion of common assault.
When cautioned he told officers: "I swear to God I never touched her."
PC Miller's colleague described how two youngsters at the home claimed their dad had hurt them "with fire".
One girl had a mark on her and gestured a cigarette being extinguished.
She also lifted her trouser leg to show a mark.
Her sister also made pinching motions to her arm.
The mum told police: "He does that if they play too loud or use an i-pad."
The case continues.
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