By Tim Petruk, Kamloops this Week

A Merritt man who bit his girlfriend’s face after she tried to break up with him will have to wait to find out what his sentence will be.

Ricky August was convicted of domestic assault following a trial this month in Kamloops provincial court.

Court heard August, age 26, and his girlfriend began arguing in the early-morning hours, following a night of drinking and watching movies.

The argument became violent, with August grabbing the woman by the neck in her bedroom.

He then head-butted her four times and bit her cheek.

Crown entered as evidence a photograph showing a ring-shaped contusion surrounding a dark bruise on the woman’s cheek.

August’s lawyer argued unsuccessfully that the fight was consensual.

“There may have even have been consensual pushing and shoving,” Kamloops provincial court Judge Stella Frame said in her judgment.

“However, what occurred in the bedroom was not a consensual fight coming as it did with such violence and disproportionate force after being asked to leave.”

August is due back in court on Dec. 10 to set a date for sentencing.