A mum was saved by her 10-year-old son when a man put his hands round her neck.
He alerted police and screamed down the phone that William Ramsay was attacking his mum, a court heard.
The woman had been spat on, hit on the head and later said: "I genuinely thought I was going to die. I was absolutely terrified when he grabbed my neck.
"I feel the police and my son saved my life," she said in a statement read at Nottingham Magistrates' Court.
Ramsay, 32, admitted common assault on June 1, assault causing actual bodily harm four days later and damaging a bedroom door.
District Judge Tim Spruce sent him to the crown court for sentence on June 27.
He described it as "a humiliating and sustained period of violence" and told Ramsay: "The problem with domestic violence is that it stays with the victims long after the sentence is finished."
Referring to the impact on the boy, Mr Spruce added: "He will be fearful of any partner she enters into a relationship with. It may well impact him in other ways."
Sanjay Jerath, prosecuting, said the pair had only been in a relationship for a few weeks. She soon realised he could turn violent when drunk.
On June 1, he returned from a pub and snatched her mobile phone after she had blocked an internet account from her former partner.
She was left with an eye injury. When she challenged him about it the next morning, he asked: "What did I do? I can't remember."
Ramsay was drunk on June 4 and threw a can of Stella lager over her. He then knelt in front of her and spat in her face, said Mr Jerath. Then her struck one of her thighs.
Mr Jerath added: "This is a sustained attack in front of a child."
Stephen Burdon, mitigating, described it as a "very unpleasant episode" which would usually end in a crown court appearance for Ramsay, of Pear Tree Court, Basford.
He said Ramsay lives with his mother who is seriously ill. He had problems with another relationship which ended recently.
"It is a sad state of affairs. He accepts he is not controlling his drinking and is using alcohol as a means of dealing with other problems in his life," added Mr Burdon.
