AUGUSTA — One of Raymond Bellavance’s former girlfriends testified in court today that he confessed to her several times to setting the fire that destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop on Route 3 in Vassalboro.

“He threatened to burn my house down and shoot my horse if I told anybody about the fire,” said Teena Savage, of Readfield. She said Bellavance and she had an eight-month relationship after the fire on June 3, 2009.

Savage said she is a cousin to Krista MacIntyre, another of Bellavance’s girlfriends, who was a waitress at the coffee shop.

Authorities allege Bellavance was jealous and didn’t want MacIntyre working there.

Bellavance, 50, of Winthrop, is charged with two counts of arson in the burning of the topless coffeeshop in Vassalboro, a business that sparked controversy even prior to its February 2008 opening. Bellavance has denied the charges and is being tried in Kennebec County Superior Court.

An inmate also testified today that Bellavance attacked him in jail last January, calling him a “rat” and a “snitch” for telling authorities Bellavance confessed to setting fire to the shop.

Kristopher Russ described the alleged Jan. 13, 2011, assault at Two Bridges Regional Jail during the fourth day of Bellavance’s trial.

Russ said he had been out of jail briefly and on probation when Bellavance approached him in late June 2009 at a cookout in Litchfield to ask for help getting money.

Russ said Bellavance wanted to flee the state because he thought police were about to charge him with setting the fire. Bellavance was apprehended in South Carolina in May 2010 by the U.S. Marshal Service.

Sgt. Steven Schutt testified he broke up the jail fight by using pepper spray on Bellavance, then took him away in handcuffs.

He said Bellavance told him, “It’s nothing against you guys; he ratted me out.”