Brian Houston case deferred until 2022

Brian Houston denies concealing information about his father's abuse. (Photo: Hillsong)

The court case in Sydney against Hillsong senior pastor Brian Houston has been delayed until next year.

Australian website Eternity News reports that a local court deferred his case until 27 January 2022 when the date of his full trial is due to be announced.

Houston has pleaded not guilty via his lawyer.

New South Wales police charged Houston in August with concealing information about sexual abuse committed by his father in the 1970s.

The charge followed a two-year police investigation.

The elder Houston abused a number of children in his native New Zealand, but the case before the court concerns the abuse of Australian survivor Brian Sengstock as a young boy.

In a statement in July, Brian Houston insisted that he did not find out about his father's abuse until 30 years after the event and that he was honouring the victim's "multiple requests not to inform the police".

"The law at the time granted an exception to reporting a crime of this nature when a person had a reasonable excuse not to report," Houston claimed.

"This state law has since further clarified that this type of situation - when an adult victim of child abuse explicitly does not want the matter reported - qualified as a reasonable excuse under the law."

News
English Heritage deletes debunked claims about pagan origins of Christmas Day
English Heritage deletes debunked claims about pagan origins of Christmas Day

English Heritage has admitted it got it wrong when it shared false claims that the date of Christmas is derived from a pagan Roman festival in honour of a sun god.

Guinness Book of Records recognises 'the world’s longest serving Sunday School teacher'
Guinness Book of Records recognises 'the world’s longest serving Sunday School teacher'

Pam Knowles started helping out her church Sunday school in 1951 at the age of 13.

The origins of ‘traditional’ Christmas celebrations 
The origins of ‘traditional’ Christmas celebrations 

Today in the UK we celebrate Christmas and the period around it with many familiar traditions and activities. There is an understandable assumption that we have always done things this way. However, celebrating Christmas has a long and complex history and things change over time. 

Venezuela stops cardinal from leaving country
Venezuela stops cardinal from leaving country

The cardinal has spoken out against the excesses of the Maduro government.