AUGUSTA — A Waterville man who grabbed a woman by the neck and wrestled her to the ground, where he then held her down when she tried to reach for a phone, will serve 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to several charges Tuesday.

Damian W. Chamberlain, 29, was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 18 months of that suspended, after pleading guilty to charges of domestic violence assault, obstructing the report of a crime, and several counts of violating conditions of release. A more serious charge of domestic violence aggravated assault was dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Chamberlain was arrested June 22 after Winslow police responded to a report of an assault in progress, according to Jake Demosthenes, an assistant district attorney in Kennebec County.

The victim told police at the time of the attack that she had recently gotten back together with Chamberlain but they got into an argument about another woman, and Chamberlain grabbed the victim by her neck and wrestled her to the ground.

Demosthenes said the victim reached for a telephone, but Chamberlain held her down and kept pulling her hand away from the phone. During the altercation the woman threw water from a bottle at Chamberlain, who then threw the water bottle at a 5-year-old child.

The victim was in court Tuesday but did not speak. Demosthenes said he spoke with her prior to proceeding with the court hearing and she told him she wanted the court to know “she is in support of the defendant and believes he can be rehabilitated and she wishes to support him through that next process when he’s released from jail.”

However, Chamberlain’s conditions of release during his two years of probation following his imprisonment ban him from having any contact with the victim.

Chamberlain, speaking in court via a camera at Kennebec County jail where he is being held, repeated several times he wants to be able to have contact with the victim.

“I want to have contact with her,” Chamberlain said. “It makes no sense; if she supports me, I should be able to call her.

Judge Erika Bristol asked if Chamberlain’s desire to see the victim meant he wished to change his guilty plea, since the plea deal included him being on probation with a condition he can’t contact her. She stressed that he cannot have any contact with her when he is released.

Chamberlain said he did not wish to change his guilty plea, and that he understood he’s not to have contact with the woman.

“I understand, but it shouldn’t be like that,” he said. “But we’ll go with it.”

Chamberlain, who has a prior domestic assault conviction on his record, already violated conditions of release by contacting the victim from jail. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to four counts of violating conditions of release.

Demosthenes said a detective with the district attorney’s office determined Chamberlain called the woman from jail numerous times. Chamberlain was also caught with the woman by Oakland police while out on bail, in violation of conditions he not have contact with her, and in violation of a protection order against him taken out on her behalf in July.

Chamberlain’s suspended sentence means he’ll serve 18 months behind bars if he complies with the conditions of his two-year probation, or up to the full five-year sentence if he does not comply with those conditions. Conditions include he have no contact with the victim, undergo evaluation and counseling for substance use, engage in a domestic violence intervention program, take part in the court system’s domestic violence judicial review program, and not possess alcohol, illegal drugs or firearms.

His sentences on the lesser charges, of six months each, will run concurrent to his main, 18-month nonsuspended sentence.