GREENE – A 62-year-old man on Wednesday denied charges that he held a knife to a woman’s throat and then tried to get police to shoot him during a Thanksgiving Day ordeal on Barnard Cove Road.

Robert Ouellette was returned to jail Wednesday night after a brief appearance in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Ouellette is charged with attempted murder, two counts each of assault and terrorizing, and charges of criminal threatening and unlawful possession of drugs.

The drama unfolded before noon Nov. 25 when Maine State Police were called to the home where Ouellette had been living with his wife and another woman.

At the time of the attack, Ouellette was enraged because the woman who owned the home had kicked him out days earlier, investigators said.

According to police records, Ouellette grabbed that woman by the hair, pulled her head back and placed a Buck knife with a 4-inch blade to her throat. He then told her he was going to cut her throat, according to the affidavit.

Both women are described in the affidavit as elderly. The initial victim was seated in a chair at the time of the attack, police said.

As Ouellette held the knife to the woman’s throat, his wife jumped on him and tried to wrestle him away, according to the police document prepared by state police Trooper Scott Gosselin.

Police said Ouellette kicked both women, threw punches and continued to swing the knife as his wife tried to subdue him.

One of the women escaped through a back door and Ouellette ran to a phone line, where he attempted to cut the cords, according to the affidavit.

But the victim of the initial attack was able to call police, and state police arrived minutes later.

According to the report, Trooper Michael Chavez confronted Ouellette in the yard of the home and discovered that the man was determined to force police to shoot him. Police said Ouellette told them he had been planning to commit “suicide by cop” for several weeks.

Police said Ouellette also threatened to return and kill both women, even if he had to wait until his release from jail to do so.

Trooper Gosselin arrived shortly after that, along with officers from the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office and the Sabattus Police Department.

After a conversation with Ouellette, who was described as disturbed and upset, the officers were able to wrestle him to the ground and get handcuffs on his wrist, according to the police report.

Ouellette was taken first to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was admitted to the crisis unit. He was later taken to the county jail.

Police said they learned that Ouellette had been abusing prescription drugs belonging to a relative. The drug was described as fluoxetine, an antidepressant similar to Prozac.

In court Wednesday, Ouellette pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. He was indicted on the seven counts earlier in the week.