Lawmaker Punches Wife For Undressing Slowly.

A US lawmaker has been accused of domestic violence for punching his wife in the face because she was taking too long to undress for sex.

The Mississippi state lawmaker, Doug McLeod, 58, was arrested on Saturday night in George County on a minor domestic violence charge.

According to an official report viewed by the Sun Herald newspaper, Mr McLeod was intoxicated with an alcoholic beverage in hand, when the police arrived at his home in Lucedale, 150 miles (240km) south-east of the state capital Jackson.

The officers’ report said they found Mr McLeod’s wife and another woman inside the house, frightened, according to the Clarion Ledger newspaper.

The other woman told officers that Mr McLeod’s wife had run into her room with a bloody face.

His fellow Republicans in the state said Mr McLeod should resign immediately if the claims are true.

The office of the state’s Governor, Phil Bryant, released a statement saying that “acts of abuse of any kind are reprehensible”.

If the allegations prove true, the governor will join in the calls for resignation, Mr Bryant’s spokesman told the Associated Press.

Deputies described Mr McLeod as slurring his speech and walking “slow in a zigzag pattern”.

One in three US women have experienced some form of physical violence from a partner, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

A 2014 report by the coalition on Mississippi found an average of seven domestic abuse hotline calls per hour in the state.