A magistrate described the offending of the man, who cannot be identified due to the offences against the child, committed in their home as frightening, demeaning, controlling, showing contempt for his partner and an "absence of kindness".

He was sentenced in the Magistrates Court in Launceston on Thursday after pleading guilty to emotional abuse and two counts of common assault.

Police were first alerted to the family violence on December 7 last year and received statements from the victim's sisters two days later, including an audio recording of the man verbally insulting the victim.

He was arrested and made no admissions to the allegations, including denying verbally insulting the victim until he was informed there was an audio recording, when he changed his story to say he was "joking".

A family violence order was issued including electronic monitoring, and on December 18 the victim made a statement to police detailing the history of their 22-year relationship.

The court heard the man maintained complete control over the victim from the time their relationship started in 1997.

He refused to allow her to make friends other than work colleagues, tampered with her vehicle to prevent her leaving the home, withheld her car keys and handbag and refused to allow her to wear make-up or jewelry.

He threatened to kill her multiple times, including saying he knew "where to put her" so she would not be found. He also made these threats while the victim was on the phone to police.

He made threats of sexual violence, and later installed an app on her phone to follow her geographical location. He refused to allow water or electricity be connected to the caravan where the victim and children were sleeping.

The abuse also included a wide range of demeaning language, regularly insulting the victim's appearance and telling her he was sleeping with any female friends she made to force her to end these friendships.

He included their two children in his threats, saying they would be taken away from her because she drank alcohol, and he would not allow the children to go with her if she attempted to leave the relationship.

The threats of violence were more than just threats, the court was told.

They often materialised.

The man pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault, covering two separate incidents against his partner and one against their child.

During winter last year, he left the victim with a blood nose after lying on top of her and putting his hand over her mouth and nose, and then holding her against a wall.

On the day prior to police becoming involved, he slapped the victim to the face.

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It was the assault against their 11-year-old child which proved most shocking to the magistrate.

He stomped on the child's head about five times while he was hiding under a blanket and pillow following an argument. The child suffered bruising to their right ear.

Other physical violence - admitted in court - included repeatedly throwing water on the victim, tying and handcuffing her, and locking her out of the house while she was naked.

A pre-sentence report indicated the man had shown "quite limited insight" into the seriousness of his offending.

During sentencing on Thursday, Magistrate Simon Brown described the man's offending as constituting a "staggering number of appalling sets of behaviours".

"The behaviour shows a contempt for your partner, it shows a complete absence of kindness," he said.

"Your ability to demean, control, intimidate, abuse your partner as demonstrated by your plea to those matters is a matter of very real concern.

"The harm that you have done to your family, particularly to [the victim], but to the family as a whole may well be irreparable. It will certainly be long lasting, I imagine."

Mr Brown said he needed to impose a sentence that could "vindicate" the victim and "mark the grave seriousness of the dreadful behaviour".

The man's guilty plea and lack of prior criminal offending, Mr Brown said, meant that an immediate prison sentence would not be imposed.

He was convicted and sentenced to eight months' prison, wholly suspended for two years. He was placed on a community corrections order for the two years, including mandatory completion of a family violence offender program and 98 hours of community service.

The number of serious family violence offences still coming before Tasmanian courts remained a concern to Mr Brown, who also pointed out that "it's nearly always males who behave in this way".

Despite the introduction of the Family Violence Act, the courts were appearing to not act as a deterrent to family violence offending, he said.

"This sort of offending - that is, family violence offending - is sadly incredibly common," Mr Brown said.

"It is the sort of behaviour which quite some years ago caused the Tasmanian Parliament to enact the Family Violence Act ... that was belated recognition that ... that sort of violence is not just private violence or less serious than violence that takes place in public.

"Unfortunately that aim has not been attained, maybe it never will be, but it's important in sentencing people [that the] penalty sends a message.

"It's nearly always males who behave in this way ... if you attempt to hurt and control and manipulate and dominate members of your family, those you are meant to provide for and love, there must be significant penalties."