A Tauranga man will spend over two years behind bars for a violent assault upon his partner

Cullen Devon Sione Amituanai put his partner in a choke-hold - as her children watched - as well as chasing their father with a machete.

During sentencing at the Tauranga District Court, Judge Geoghegan says he considered the young children witnessing the violence were also victims of the offending.

The 27 year old has two previous convictions for assault in a family relationship and one for strangulation.