BAY CITY, MI -- With a jury looking on, a preteen girl and her father gave conflicting testimony on whether or not he hit her over the head with frozen bacon, and then continued to beat her.

The trial of Jonathan A. Powell, 46, began the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 11, in front of Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran. Powell is charged with one count of third-degree child abuse, which is punishable by up to two years of incarceration.

Powell denied abusing the girl.

As his first witness, Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino called Powell's 11-year-old daughter to the stand. She testified she and her 8-year-old sister on Friday, Jan. 8, went to their dad's house, as it was his weekend for visitation. She brought a cellphone with her, which she said her father did not approve of.

When she arrived, she had no marks or bruises on her face, she said. Nothing odd or improper happened on Friday or Saturday, she added.

Sunday morning, however, that changed. About 9 a.m., the two sisters had an argument, with the younger sister locking herself in their shared bedroom, the witness testified. She added she knew a way to pick the lock by using a toothpick, so she went into the kitchen to fetch one.

Powell was making breakfast in the kitchen at the time, she said.

"I went right to wear the toothpicks were kept," she said. "He started yelling at me. He grabbed bacon out of the freezer. He started hitting me with it."

Powell hit her on the top of her head with the bacon, she said, adding it was hard.

"I was crying," she continued. "When he started hitting me, I started backing up. We kind of moved into ... the dining room. He pushed me over the dishwasher and I fell and hit my head."

The dishwasher door was open, she explained. She hit the right side of her head on a wooden chair leg, she said.

The girl made her way to her bedroom. Her sister let her in and they locked themselves in.

"We were scared," she testified. "We were afraid our dad was gonna hit us."

The girl had been composed until this point, but suddenly broke down sobbing. Coppolino requested a brief recess, which Sheeran granted. Bay County Victim Rights Coordinator Cindy Howell took the girl by the hand and led her from the courtroom.

Proceedings were then adjourned for the lunch hour, resuming that afternoon with the now calm girl back on the stand. She testified her dad at one point called her "the B-word."

Later in the day, Powell entered her room and repeatedly hit her in the face with his hands, elbows, and forearms, giving her a bloody nose, she said.

"He said, 'If you spare the rod, you spoil the child,'" she said. "I know it's a quote from the Bible."

The girl said she used her cellphone to text her mom, adding she then spoke with her on the phone and said she wanted to go to her house. The girls ended up staying with Powell for several more hours, she said.

When the girl was back in her mother's care, her mom called police. Hampton Township Police Officer John S. May Jr. responded and took photos of the girl. Those images, depicting a mark on her left cheek, were shown to the jury by Coppolino.

Cross-examined by defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes, the girl said she did not recall what time Powell took her back to her mom's residence. He asked her if she bore any marks beside the one on her cheek.

"I didn't have any other marks on my face," she said.

To many of Reyes' questions on what further interactions she and Powell had throughout the day, she replied that she did not remember. She said she did recall Powell telling her not to tell her mom what happened, adding that if he lost her, he'd kill himself.

After she testified, Coppolino called the girl's younger sister to the stand. On Jan. 10, she said she was in her room at Powell's place when her crying sister entered.

"She said that my dad hit her with frozen bacon and then she tripped over the washing machine," she testified. Their dad started pounding on the door, demanding to be let in, she added. He threatened to break the door down, but the girls still didn't open it, she said.

Later in the day, she saw Powell hitting her older sister in the bathroom, she testified.

The girls' mother testified Powell picked them up after school on Friday, Jan. 8. On Sunday morning, she received a text message from her eldest daughter which read, "Mom, I want to come home."

"I called her to see what was going on," she said. "She was crying and just kind of saying she wanted to come home. She didn't tell me any details."

About 6 p.m. Sunday, Powell dropped the girls back at their mom's house, she testified.

"As soon as she walked in, she was crying," she said. "I just seen that she was very upset and crying so I went to hug her. I seen on the face she had a black mark."

The mom called her own father for advice, who instructed her to call police. Officer May responded to the home and spoke with the girls, she said. She then took the girls to McLaren Bay Region hospital's emergency room so her eldest daughter could be examined.

Over the next few days, her daughter developed a black eye that lasted for about a week. She also found more bruising on her hip and buttock, she said.

Powell has not had contact with his daughters since the incident, she said.

Under cross-examination, Reyes asked the mother if this was indeed the fifth time she reported child abuse against Powell. She said she didn't believe that was accurate, saying she only made two such allegations.

Reyes asked if she made two such complaints in 2012, but she said she did not.

Coppolino rested the prosecution's case after the mother testified. As the defense's first witness, Reyes called Officer May to the stand.

In May's police report, he did not write the eldest daughter mentioned anything about being attacked by Powell in a bathroom or that he hit her with his hands, elbows and forearms. Had she made those claims to him, he would have included it in his report, May said.

May said he later interviewed Powell at his home. He did not see any bacon inside Powell's home.

Powell himself took to the stand after May stepped down. He said that on the morning of Jan. 10, he was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, which included bacon. It was not frozen, however.

At some point, his eldest daughter came into the kitchen, but Powell told her to leave the room.

"She said she wants to get into the bedroom and she wants to get a toothpick," he said. "I backed her up with the bacon. That's all I had in my hand. She fell over the dishwasher door ... (and) hit her head on a chair."

Powell said she hit the left side of her face on the chair, while the girl had said she struck her right side. Police photos showed she had a mark on the left side of her face.

The dishwasher door was open and his daughter hit it with enough force to damage it so that it no longer closes, Powell said.

He denied calling her names, punching her or hitting her with his forearm. He also said he never saw her with a bloody nose, nor did he find any bloody tissues in his house.

Under cross-examination, Coppolino asked Powell how he disciplines his children. He replied that he doesn't.

Coppolino then asked Powell a series of questions asking him if he assaulted his daughter. Powell denied every allegation.

Reyes rested the defense's case after Powell testified. In his opening statement, Reyes argued the abuse never happened and that the allegations against Powell are the result of a custody dispute.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Coppolino and Reyes have yet to deliver their closing arguments before the jury can begin deliberating.