A man has gained an injunction in an outback Australian court preventing his ex-girlfriend fom cutting off his penis.

A Darwin magistrate granted the man the court order after he had him swear an oath that he was telling the truth.

Tony Goodchild, a backpacker currently in Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory, told the court the woman, who he had been going out with for four years, was pursuing him and had told him she was going to cut off his penis.

Goodchild was nervous and was shaking as he told his tale which caused some laughter in the courtroom.

The magistrate however took him seriously and issued a domestic violence order preventing the woman from coming into contact with Goodchild.

The interim court order will be served on the woman giving her fourteen days to object before a more permanent stay is ordered.

Goodchild thanked the magistrate and left the court hurriedly before disappearing in to the town's CBD.