Victim feared he would be killed

RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. — A North Carolina man thought he was “going to die” when members of his evangelical church beat and choked him for two hours to expel his “homosexual demons,” he testified Thursday.

Matthew Fenner was the first person to take the stand in the assault and kidnapping trial of Brooke Covington, a 58-year-old minister at Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, N.C.

Fenner, 23, said Covington was the leader in a 2013 beating involving numerous congregants. He said Covington pointed out his sexual orientation, saying, “God said there is something wrong in your life.”

Fenner said he had cancer as a child and had a biopsy one week before he was assaulted.

“I’m frail and in my mind, I’m thinking, ‘is my neck going to break, am I going to die?’ ” Fenner said.

Covington faces up to two years in prison if convicted. She is the first of five church members to face trial in the case.

Prosecutor Garland Byers said during opening statements that Covington “directed and participated in” the assault.

Fenner has said he was leaving a Sunday night prayer service Jan. 27, 2013, when nearly two dozen people surrounded him in the sanctuary. He said they slapped, punched, choked and blasted him — a church practice that involves intense screaming — for two hours as they tried to expel his “homosexual demons.”

Covington’s lawyer, David Teddy, said the congregation gave Fenner routine prayer that lasted no longer than 15 to 20 minutes. When the prayer was over, Fenner “hugged everybody and left the church,” Teddy said.