Arnold Berdon — ex-husband of UFC flyweight Rachael Ostovich — has been sentenced to four years of probation after he was arrested on second degree assault charges last November.
The Hawaiian mixed martial artist plead no contest after he was taken into custody and charged with assaulting his ex-wife in a violent encounter at their home.
Initially, police charged Berdon with second-degree attempted murder but that was later changed to second-degree assault instead.
Deputy Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rawson had asked for five years in prison for Berdon but ultimately the judge settled on four months of probation.
Ostovich appeared in court on Thursday after she had filed a restraining order against her ex-husband following the assault where she alleged Berdon punched her several times in the head, face and ribs. An audio recording of part of the assault was later released where Ostovich can be heard begging for her ex-husband to stop hitting her before she finally escaped over a balcony and eventually ran to safety.
“This wasn’t a single act, it wasn’t a single punch. This was a sustained brutal assault,” Rawson said in court according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “For nearly 10 minutes, the defendant assaulted the victim while she begged for him to stop.”
Rawson also said in court that this was not the first incident of domestic violence in the household.
“I do have the power to move forward, walking in forgiveness and I have,” Ostovich said when speaking about her ex-husband in court.
The judge gave Berdon credit for two days he spent in jail following the initial arrest and did not add any additional jail time to his sentence.
According to reports, Ostovich’s divorce from Berdon was also made official this week with her ex-husband allowed supervised visits with their daughter with potential consideration for a different custody agreement after he completes anger management and domestic violence courses as ordered by the court.
