An Escambia County grand jury has downgraded the charges of a Brewton man arrested for the attempted murder, kidnapping and sexually torturing his wife in March.

Roger Dixon was being held in the Escambia County Detention Center on a $180,000 bond after an April preliminary hearing when now Circuit Judge David Jordan remanded the case to the grand jury.

The grand jury this week indicted Dixon on charges of attempted assault I, domestic violence III assault and domestic violence strangulation.

Chief Deputy Mike Lambert told The Brewton Standard earlier that the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office was notified about the incident after the family of Donna Kay Dixon took her to Andalusia Regional Hospital for treatment.

“The victim reported that (Dixon) had tied her up at a residence on Marrietta Road for several days, and allegedly physically beat her, assaulted her and sexually abused her,” Lambert said. “The victim said she was able to get her freedom after Dixon left the residence and she was able to contact her family.”

During the April prelim hearing, Mrs. Dixon’s sister testified she was afraid for herself and her family and detailed a relationship of domestic violence.

Mrs. Dixon was in the intensive care unit for seven days before being released.

Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Kyle Ramsey testified that Mrs. Dixon originally told police she was “jumped on” by two women who followed her to the couple’s Marietta Road home; however, Ramsey said officers did not believe her story. During a second interview with police, she revealed her husband was the one behind the attack, Ramsey said.

“She told us that (Dixon) came home and accused her of cheating,” he said. “He told her that every lie was a hit with a flashlight. She said the more she pleaded, the more he’d hit her.

“She said he tried to shove pills down her throat and…used her shirt to choke her,” he said. “That he hit her with a belt and wooden cane and took her to the bedroom. She said he made her tear sheets to tie her to the bed and used a flashlight to sodomize her.”

Ramsey testified that police recovered the belt and the cane, as well as fibers from the bedposts, from the Dixon home and that photographic evidence substantiated the abuse.