A Durham County Superior Court judge reduced the bond today for the woman whose husband is accused in a sexual assault case that includes allegations of channeling demons and caging and beating a man.

Judge Orlando Hudson set bond at $75,000 for Joy Suzanne Johnson, 30, who is accused of aiding and abetting her husband as he handcuffed a man and forced him "into a dog cage, leaving him there for hours, terrorizing him," according to an arrest warrant.

The case was forwarded to Superior Court earlier this week by District Court Judge James T. Hill after the accusers recounted their allegations during a two-hour hearing Monday.

A 44-year-old woman who moved in with Johnson and her husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25, alleged that she was raped after having difficulty channeling demons.

The accuser said she moved to the couple's Albany Street home to study the occult. She met them through a Web site the couple set up. After a brief online contact and several phone calls, the woman moved from a Montana cattle ranch to Durham.

When she arrived in December, James Frederick Bethard, 19, was living with the couple in their home. The accuser in the sexual assault case told the court Monday that she witnessed Bethard being beaten with a cane several days after she arrived.

It was not until late June when the two complained to law enforcement about the alleged beatings and sexual assault.

The News & Observer is not identifying the woman in keeping with its general policy of not identifying people who allege sex crimes.

Defense attorneys said Monday that Bethard lost his job at a local pet store and was worried about being kicked out of the home.

One defense lawyer has described the case as "consensual sadomasochism" gone awry.

Today Jan Paul, the assistant district attorney assigned to the case, protested the reduced bond, pointing out that the accusers testified Monday that they were in fear for their lives.

Elizabeth Curran, the public defender assigned to the Johnson case, described the accuser as a woman in therapy whose allegations "make no sense."

Craig has been charged with second-degree rape, second-degree forcible sexual offense, three counts of second-degree kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

The bond hearing today was the third since July 7 but the first in Superior Court.