THE horrendous level of abuse on women inflected by Samuel Cairns shows that we still have a long way to go to tackle the issue of domestic violence.

This was a man who, despite court orders against him, continued to inflict savage levels of violence against women, headbutting one victim while she had a child in her arms.

That he has been sent to jail is very welcome; whether the sentence of three years and five months is enough is likely to be, at the very least, the cause of some debate.

Like many abusers, Cairns had been given many warnings, and repeatedly ignored them. The sad fact is that his vulnerable victims had to endure so much trauma before a custodial sentence was imposed.

Sadly, there are too many men in our society who believe it is acceptable to direct violence against women, leaving them with horrific physical injuries as well as very often appalling psychological trauma.

They use their partners as punchbags, but fear, concerns for children, intimidation and other factors mean their victims do not always report them straight away.

This sentence will hopefully send out a message that the courts will impose tough sentences on repeat offenders, but surely we have to look at ways of avoiding getting to this stage.

It has to be made clear to violent partners and boyfriends they will not get numerous warnings and second chances; there needs to be a zero tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour.

Any man who commits domestic violence should be immediately told that any repetition will mean a likely custodial sentence; perhaps then these cowards will think twice about flashing their fists.