A New Plymouth man will be sentenced in August after admitting assaulting a woman, strangling a rat, and threatening to rape a constable's mum.
Kyle Cameron has appeared in the New Plymouth District Court this afternoon.
Police say having a disagreement with a woman in March, Cameron pinned her down by her wrists, and scratched her face until it bled.
The 25-year-old also strangled the woman's daughter's pet rat, and burnt its fur with a lighter.
When Cameron was later found by police, he told a constable he knew where he lived, and was going to burn his house, and rape his mother.