MEXICO — Bail was set at $1,000 Monday for a Mexico man who police said hit his girlfriend in the back of the head with a can of beer when she tried to take his plate after serving him dinner.

Rumford District Court Clerk Darlene Richards said

, 43, made his initial appearance in Rumford District Court via videoconference from the Oxford County Jail in Paris. He is charged with aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Mexico Police Chief Roy Hodsdon said in an affidavit that on the morning of July 3, officer Dean Benson was advised of a domestic assault on Kimball Avenue.

Benson said in his report that when he arrived at the woman’s home, he found her with “blood all down her shirt and legs,” a “large fist-size bruise on her left forearm, a scratch on her left cheek, and a skinned middle finger on the knuckle of her right hand.”

The woman, who identified herself as Prendergast’s girlfriend, told Benson she had cooked Prendergast dinner and when she tried to take his plate away, he hit her in the back of the head with a full can of beer, causing her to “see stars.”

She told Benson that when she told Prendergast that she was going to call the police, he grabbed her by the throat until she couldn’t breathe, according to the report.

Hodsdon’s affidavit said Prendergast fled the scene after attacking the woman, and was not found by police until Friday at a house in Mexico.

A corrections officer at the jail said Prendergast made bail Monday.

Richards said Prendergast is scheduled to appear in Rumford District Court on Nov. 30.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net