A Butler man is headed for court on felony and other charges for allegedly beating his girlfriend so badly he broke her face in two places.

District Judge Pete Shaffer at a preliminary hearing Monday ordered 48-year-old Martin P. Patterson Jr. held for trial on charges of aggravated assault and simple assault.

He remains in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.

Butler police were called shortly after 11 p.m. Jan. 28 to Patterson’s home in the 100 block of Mercer Street for a reported assault. Officers found the defendant and his injured live-in girlfriend, 53-year-old Robin Hecker, at the home.

Police said Hecker had blood in and around her mouth from a deep cut on the lower lip. She also was bleeding from a small cut on her left forearm.

She told officers she and Patterson had been arguing when he punched her twice on the right side of the face, hitting her mouth and jaw, according to court documents.

During the fight, she said, he also dug his nails into her arm, which caused the open bleeding wound.

Hecker was taken by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a fractured cheek bone and a fractured orbital bone, documents said.

Patterson’s formal arraignment in Butler County court is set for March 17.