Crown prosecutors want a man who attacked his ex-girlfriend to spend six years in prison.

Phillip Marshall’s lawyer argues that three years would be a more appropriate sentence for his client, who was initially charged with attempted murder.

Marshall pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, rather than attempted murder, in connection with the July 2014 incident at his apartment on Chandler Drive in Kitchener.

Officers arrived at the scene to find the woman having been punched repeatedly in her head, chest and stomach.

Marshall’s sentencing hearing began Monday, with his victim tearfully saying she now lives with constant fear and anxiety.

“He attacked me with his bare hands and left me for dead in my daughter’s room,” said the woman, whose identity is subject to a publication ban.

“When I look in the mirror, I see the shell of a woman.”

Court documents show that the two had been living together and in a relationship after meeting online several months earlier.

By the time of the attack, the woman was looking to move out of the apartment. Court heard that a dispute over Marshall’s dog may have prompted the attack.

“There had been some strife over his dog, and whether or not she was going to attempt to take it when she left,” defence lawyer Craig Parry said outside court.

Marshall will be sentenced May 13.