Cecil Motsepe

Cecil Motsepe

Church elders are praying in a desperate effort to salvage the disintegrating marriage of gospel singer Deborah Fraser to Nigerian pastor Sockey Okeke.

A fortnight ago Sowetan revealed that the widely-publicised union was crumbling.

We revealed that the singer had lodged a case of domestic violence and obtained a protection order against the man of the cloth.

This was after Okeke, the founder of the Mercy Chapel Church in Yeoville, Johannesburg, allegedly assaulted her.

Although the two had been living apart for some time, Fraser denied any knowledge of the assault when we first approached her.

But this week she sung like a canary.

She revealed how jealousy, rage, emotional and physical abuse had wrecked her 10-month marriage.

Fraser said she was still traumatised by the split.

Speaking for the first time about the failed marriage, Okeke said: "The things that she did are shocking. If what happened to me happened to a South African man I am sure he would have killed her and her family."