BAY CITY, MI -- Despite a few moments of crying, an 11-year-old girl remained mostly composed, testifying in a clear and confident manner that her dad beat her with frozen bacon and then quoted the Bible as the assault went on.

The girl testified during the preliminary examination of Jonathan A. Powell, 45, held the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 2. Powell is charged with one count of third-degree child abuse, punishable by up to two years in prison.

The girl testified she alternates staying with her mother and father. She testified she and her younger sister went to stay at her dad's Hampton Township home for the weekend on Friday, Jan. 8.

Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard Coppolino showed the girl photographs of her face taken by police on Sunday, Jan. 10. The images showed markings or injuries on the left side of her face. She testified she received the marks about 9 or 10 a.m. Sunday.

"He was hitting me with his elbows, his upper arms, and his hands," she said, adding she didn't know why. She said the incident began in the kitchen.

"He was hitting me with frozen bacon and he was pushing me back and I fell right over the dishwater," she said. "I broke it. He was just yelling that the dishwasher was broken."

The girl said she then went into her bedroom. She later went to the bathroom and her father assaulted her again, she said.

Later that morning, the girl texted her mother saying she wanted to go home early. Her father didn't take her home until about 6 p.m., when the girl told her mom that Powell had assaulted her. The mother then notified police, who she spoke with that evening, she said.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes, the girl testified she had never previously sent a text message to her mom asking to come home early. She said her mom called her in response to the text message and she described to her what had happened. She also said she also asked Powell to take her to her mother's, but he refused.

She told Reyes she knew the bacon was frozen as Powell had just removed it from the freezer and it was hard as he hit her over the head with it.

When she tripped over the open dishwasher door, she fell and hit her temple on a chair, she testified.

"I ran over to my room and my sister was asking me what was wrong," she said. "I was in my room for a while. I heard him swearing, saying, 'You B-word, you broke my dishwasher.'"

Powell then began banging on the girl's door, she said, suddenly breaking down in tears. She said she was lying on her bed when Powell entered the room and pulled the bed, causing her to strike the back of her head. Powell then "threw a tantrum" and hit her with his hands and arms, giving her a bloody nose in the process, she said.

The girl said this went on for 10 to 12 minutes.

"He said, 'It's OK to do that, it's from the Bible -- if you spare the rod, you spoil the child,'" the girl testified. "He just said that."

The girl was the only witness Coppolino called. After she stepped down from the witness stand, Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer bound Powell's case over to Circuit Court for trial.

Reyes, speaking to The Times after the hearing concluded, said he contends no abuse ever happened.

"This is the latest chapter in a long custody battle between parents," he said.

Powell remains free on bond.