Embattled Salinas Councilman facing trial on domestic violence charges.

Incriminating testimony given by the ex-girlfriend of Salinas councilman Jose Castañeda, portraying the embattled councilman as violent and abusive, resulted in the decision that he stand trial on felony domestic violence charges.

The case stretches back to September, about three months after Castañeda and Jane Doe terminated their three-year relationship.

Doe testified she was coming home just after midnight.

“I was in front of my door, when I turned around and he was standing on my walkway,” Doe testified in Castañeda’s preliminary hearing Thursday morning.

Castañeda wanted to talk, she said, even though she told him it was too late for that.

After Doe refused, the situation escalated. Doe testified with a shaky voice that she was shoved, grabbed and pulled by the forearms and eventually carried into a van against her will by Castañeda, where he locked the door and drove away with her.

“He would continuously strike me in the head, and at one point, he grabbed me by the leg and [struck] me, leaving bruises on my leg,” Doe said. “He would say: This is what you made me do.”

As Doe testified this, her family sat in the front row of the courtroom, crying as she talked about the abuse she claims to have experienced.

Castañeda sat motionless in his chair.

Doe estimates the alleged ordeal lasted about three hours. During that time, she testified Castañeda insulted her parenting skills, accused her of sleeping around, and at one point said to fear being raped by him.

Several photographs displaying her bruised legs, arms and back were submitted as evidence during the hearing.

Castañeda’s attorney William Pernik questioned her testimony by asking whether she had been drinking earlier that night, adding that it could affect the recollection of the events. He also inquired into the height of her heels and whether or not she bruised easily.

“You bruise fairly easily?” Pernik asked.

“Objection, relevance, your honor?” Prosecutor Elaine McCleaf protested.

Doe said she may bruise easily sometimes, but not always.

At one point, Pernik questioned why she did not scream for help to alert the neighbors prior to being forced into the van.

“I was scared, but I did not yell, I did make noise and asked him to stop, but I did not yell for help,” she said. “That's not who I am.”

When asked about her statements to police and investigators, Doe testified the interviews were recorded sporadically. Pernik saw this as an opportunity to allude to the fact Castañeda has “not made a lot of friend in the positions of power.”

“There are inconsistencies in her story,” Pernik said. “The truth is easy to find out, I think people should listen to this debate with an open mind.”

Eventually, Doe was released from the van and she walked home. The next night, Castañeda returned to her home demanding to talk to her, she testified. Her son and brother witnessed that encounter, she said.

Following the second incident, she called police, and days later charges were filed against him. If he is convicted, he would be removed from his position at City Council.

Castañeda is now facing trial on charges of false imprisonment, stalking and great corporal injury on a spouse. He will be arraigned on these charges on Dec. 17.