PARIS – A jury heard the testimony of several state witnesses in the first day of a sex abuse trial held at Oxford County Superior Court on Wednesday.

Rodney A. Heath, 32, of Otisfield, is charged with Class B unlawful sexual contact, Class C aggravated criminal trespass, and Class D assault stemming from an incident involving his ex-girlfriend that took place in Paris last July.

If convicted, Heath could face a maximum prison sentence of 16 years.

The bulk of the testimony came from Heath’s 27-year-old ex-girlfriend, the victim of the alleged crimes. She said that she and Heath had not been dating at the time, but had kept in touch with each other and continued to have sexual relations.

She said she and Heath exchanged a series of text messages before the incident in which it was agreed that she would have sex with him after he helped remove some trash that was piling up at the house. When he failed to remove the trash, the woman said she called off the agreement.

Later that day, the ex-girlfriend testified that Matthew Ferrante, her boyfriend at the time, and his child came over to visit. After Ferrante had gone to sleep, she said Heath entered and house and argued with her before leaving. She said Heath entered the house later that night and got into a physical fight with her, after which Heath sexually assaulted her.

“I fought him like hell,” she said.

The woman said she managed to flee the house and that police arrived shortly thereafter. She was taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital for analysis of her injuries.

Kevin Joyce, Heath’s attorney, said that several of the woman’s statements made on the stand were different from those given to police. She replied that she couldn’t remember details of her earlier testimonies.

Joyce told the court that the couple had a history of violent sex and charged the woman with knowing that her boyfriend was coming over. “You set him (Heath) up to get mad at you and then you had sex like you had before,” said Joyce.

In further examination by Assistant District Attorney and prosecutor Richard Beauchesne, the woman denied any such history and said she didn’t know if she drew blood during her struggle.

Ferrante, who lives in Portland, testified that he fled the house to seek help when Heath arrived. The house did not have a telephone installed. After unsuccessfully trying a neighbor’s house, he drove to the Paris Police Department.

He said there had been no prior arrangement to show up at the woman’s house, and that he saw her arguing with someone on the front porch, but could not identify him.

Anthony Keach of the Paris Police Department and Dana Wessling of the Norway Police Department responded to the incident, and both were present as state’s witnesses at the trial.

Keach said he arrived first at the scene and found Heath on the porch and the woman on a lawn across the street. He began talking with Heath and let Wessling, who arrived shortly thereafter, talk to the woman. Keach said the woman went back into the house and shouted that Heath had raped her.

“It appeared that some sort of struggle had taken place,” said Wessling, who met with the woman inside the house. However, he also acknowledged that there were no obvious signs of a struggle, and that the house might have simply been unkempt.

Maine State Police Detective Terrance James testified that he interviewed Heath twice over the course of one day after the incident. He said Heath “delivered what he called an ultimatum” to the woman after he entered the house, saying she would have sex with him or he would assault Ferrante. According to James, Heath told him that he would have killed Ferrante if he caught him.

Darlene Glover, a nurse at Stephens Memorial, and Sandra Stevens, a physician at the hospital, examined the woman after the incident. They testified that the woman’s injuries included many abrasions and bruises.

“It fully corroborated the allegations,” said Stevens.

Stevens confirmed on questioning from Joyce that the diagnosis of the injuries as having been caused by assault was due to the woman’s statement.

Heath was indicted on the charges in October.

In a separate case, the state the state has charged Heath with Class A gross sexual assault and Class C unlawful sexual contact involving a 13-year-old Norway girl.

The trial is scheduled to resume today in Oxford County Superior Court.