PROVIDENCE — A defense lawyer for one of the ex-prison guards accused of abusing inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions yesterday questioned the motives of a former prisoner who claims the guard threatened to sodomize him and repeatedly struck him in the head and face with a phonebook.

John Lynch Jr., lawyer for veteran Capt. Gualter Botas, cross-examined Jose Gonzalez for several hours and pressed him about a possible civil lawsuit that he may file after the trial of Botas and his codefendant, former guard Lt. Kenneth Viveiros, ends.

Lynch said that the complaint has been drafted and is ready to be filed in Superior Court. He said that Gonzalez has retained a lawyer.

Gonzalez acknowledged that he signed a document to retain a lawyer, but that he has had nothing to do with filing a lawsuit or seeking monetary damages. He said that he is aware that his mother may be pursuing legal action and possible damages.

“I’m here because I don’t want this to go away and for [Botas and Viveiros] to do it to other people,” Gonzalez testified. “I want them to get punished for what they did to me. I told my mother from the beginning that I don’t want to talk about it. I want to put everything behind me.”

On Monday, Gonzalez provided dramatic testimony about the alleged abuse he suffered at the hands of Botas and Viveiros on Feb. 14, 2006. He said that the officers discovered a large supply of soup packets in his living quarters in the ACI’s minimum-security unit and questioned him about it.

Gonzalez said the two ranking officers wanted him to provide them with information about drugs, gangs and contraband that they believed a gang leader was smuggling into the prison.

During the course of the interrogation in Botas’ office, Gonzalez, who was serving a two-year sentence, said that Botas struck him with the phonebook “more than 30 times.” He testified that Viveiros used an ethnic slur and broke packets of the confiscated soup over his head.

Gonzalez also said that Botas ordered him to strip naked and spread his buttocks. Then, he said, Botas, Viveiros and a third guard laughed and made fun of birthmarks on the inmate’s backside.

Before leaving, Gonzalez said, Botas grabbed his testicles and pulled “down real hard.”

Several times over the past two days, Gonzalez stopped and sobbed on the witness stand. Judge Daniel A. Procaccini called for 10- to 15-minute breaks so Gonzalez could compose himself and continue his testimony.

Botas, 39, of Pawtucket, and Viveiros, 56, of North Providence, are charged with multiple counts of simple assault for the alleged abuse of four former inmates in minimum security in 2005 and 2006. The others, besides Gonzalez, 26, are Matthew Gumkowski, 27, Anthony Romano, 25, and Robert Houghton, 47.

All of them testified that the two former guards participated in the alleged abuse at different times in Botas’ office.

Last year, a District Court judge found Botas and Viveiros guilty of assaulting Gonzalez. They appealed the verdict to Superior Court and they are now on trial before a jury for the assault on Gonzalez and the other three men.

ACI officials fired both of them last year.

Yesterday, Lynch, Botas’ lawyer, sought to discredit Gonzalez by questioning discrepancies in his testimony on Monday versus what he testified to in District Court last year and told state police detectives in February 2006.

Lynch pointed out that Gonzalez said this week that there were three guards in Botas’ office, while in the past he has maintained there were four or five guards. He also questioned whether Botas struck him with the phonebook from across his desk, or whether he rose from his chair, came around the side of the desk and hit him.

On several occasions, Gonzalez grew frustrated and provided the court with long, rambling answers. Procaccini had to repeatedly tell him to simply answer the questions posed to him.

The cross-examination of Gonzalez is expected to continue today at 9:30 a.m.

bmalinow@projo.com