A STRONGMAN actor who assaulted his partner has accused the courts of injustice.

At Worcester Magistrates Court, Sebastian Abbatiello was found guilty of hitting Rebecca MacAvoy, the mother of his 18-month of daughter, in the face.

As the bench read its verdict, 48-year-old Abbatiello - who appeared in the films Gladiator and Revolver - said: "This is a joke. You call this justice? She has lied and you have believed her. This is not justice."

The assault took place at Abbatiello's home in Hanley Swan, near Malvern, in March 2006. Giving evidence via video link, 24-year-old Miss MacAvoy said she woke at 7am to verbal abuse.

She said: "He was calling me names because my phone had been going off in the night and he said it was another man. He pushed me, then started hitting me across the face."

Police officers who attended the scene told the court that Abbatiello had left before they had chance to speak to him, and that Miss MacAvoy had a fresh cut to her lip which was bleeding.

Mark Sheward, defending Abbatiello, claimed that Miss MacAvoy had cut herself falling over in a toilet cubicle the night before.

He said she was lying about the assault because she was angry about an affair Abbatiello had with his mother's best friend and she did not want him to have custody of their daughter.

He referred to a letter given to police in which Miss MacAvoy admitted she had been drinking and did not want to press charges.

However, during cross examination, she repeatedly said Abbatiello forced her to write the letter and it was false.

The court then watched CCTV footage of Miss MacAvoy in Bowl Extreme, the venue where Mr Sheward claimed she injured herself.

Charles Harley, prosecuting, said Miss MacAvoy was clearly not "completely paralytic" through drink as Abbatiello had claimed.

Abbatiello is due to be sentenced on Tuesday, March 4. He was granted conditional bail until then.