Tegan Ashmore, 29, was fined $2000 with conviction at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Monday for the incident, which occurred near Mildura in October.

The court was told Ashmore was yelling in front of the caravan she and her partner lived in, and the owner of the property, her partner's mother's partner, came outside.

After verbally abusing the man, she then spat on him - she was arrested for breaching an intervention order and interviewed at Mildura police station, where she explained "he kept telling me to shut up, so I spat on him."

Her defence lawyer argued she was mentally unwell at the time, and had spent time at a psychiatric facility.

Ashmore's mental health has improved since the incident, the court was told, and she now has employment.

However, the police prosecutor said spitting was "one of the more serious unlawful assaults", and asked for a substantial fine, if not a jail term.

Magistrate Gregory Robinson agreed a normal fine would not be sufficient denunciation.

"It's humiliating and degrading to spit on someone, and this was someone offering some sort of charity to the accused," he said.

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.