The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wiped tears from his face as he described the anguish he had experienced not having seen his three children for 18 months.

It was a far cry from the aggressive, verbally abusive man who had turned up at an Oak Flats home on April 19, threatening to kill his ex and firebomb the house with everyone inside.

Port Kembla Local Court heard the man's former partner and children had travelled to Wollongong from southern NSW to visit a sick relative in hospital on April 17, and had been visiting a friend's home two days later when his ex allowed the children to speak to him on the phone.

One of the children told the 37-year-old their location, prompting him to come to the home.

"I am going to kill you, you f---ing c---. Let me see my children," he yelled from his truck, after beeping his horn.

"I am going to kill you ... I am going to ram your car with my truck ... I am going to f---ing firebomb your house with all of you in it."

The man eventually heeded his ex-partner's pleas to leave, parting with an "I love you" to his kids as he drove away.

Sentencing him on one charge of intimidation, Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said the Barrack Point man had hurt his chances of seeing his children in the future.

"If you want to see your children that's no way to go about it. In no way is that going to encourage someone to allow you to see your children," Ms Beattie said.

"All you have done is make it worse for yourself, now you have a domestic violence conviction for an offence committed in front of your children."

She also noted the distress it must have caused the victim, her children and the other occupants of the home at the time.

The court heard the man had a number of violent offences on his record, including a conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ms Beattie placed him on a 12-month good behaviour bond and fined him $1000 for the crime.