A culture of silence and protecting the church motivated Hillsong founder Brian Houston not to tell police about reports his disgraced pastor father was a pedophile, prosecutors say.
That culture allowed Houston to become “the only conduit of information” between the Assemblies of God national executive and the person his father abused.
An “entrenched reverence” towards Pentecostal founding father Frank Houston also fostered protection, Crown prosecutor Gareth Harrison said on Thursday.
“It was in this setting … the accused knew he could control the narrative and protect the church and his father,” Mr Harrison said in closing submissions to Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.
Houston’s barrister, Phillip Boulten, SC, said painting Houston as “the arch architect of church-wide cover-up” was based on “flimsy” evidence and conjecture.
“There are obvious problems about sustaining that argument in the light of what my client said and did in front of thousands of people,” Mr Boulten said, referring to sermons and interviews given by Houston after learning his father molested children.
Mr Harrison said Houston made “technically correct” statements in words “designed to mislead” when speaking publicly about his father’s abuse, conflating his crimes in NSW with others in New Zealand.
Houston, 69, has pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence, arguing the person his father abused, Brett Sengstock, did not want an investigation, and was an adult who could have reported it to police himself by the time Houston found out.
It is not disputed Frank Houston abused Mr Sengstock as a boy in the 1970s.
“But he’s wrong about some of these things, and his reliability is at issue on some of these things,” Mr Boulten said, referring to conversations mostly occurring decades later, not the abuse itself.
Houston's father confessed when Mr Sengstock confronted him in late 1999.
He lost his credentials, but continued to lead sermons until weeks before he died in 2004, including at a Maitland church, whose pastor said he never would have allowed Frank Houston to preach if he knew he was a pedophile.
Houston revealed the admission to the national executive as part of concealing the offence from authorities, Mr Harrison said.
It allowed the defrocking of Frank Houston, and headed off any church investigation that would follow if he denied the allegation.
Houston omitted informing the national executive that Mr Sengstock was considering reporting it to authorities, and had been paid money by his father, as well as telling them legal advice had been obtained that they did not have to report the abuse to police, Mr Harrison said.
Mr Sengstock’s mother found out by 1994, recording the “bombshell” information in her diary, before telling evangelist Kevin Mudford, who told Mr Sengstock’s great-aunt, Pastor Barbara Taylor.
Mr Harrison said Ms Taylor was the “main agitator” in escalating the abuse report, and was excluded after Houston became involved.
She was relieved to be “out of this” after passing the matter further up the church hierarchy, Mr Boulten responded.
Mr Sengstock said he told his mother while a teenager, driving home from a counselling session where Frank Houston had performed a sex act.
The differing accounts could lead the magistrate to doubt some evidence about events occurring decades earlier, Mr Boulten warned.
He said some of Mr Sengstock’s evidence was given in a “very convincing way”, such as what he said about his attitude towards a police investigation.
“Which is why he didn’t go to the police, which is why he didn’t go to the church, which is why he was devastated when his mother said what she said to Mr Mudford,” Mr Boulten said.
His closing submissions resume on Friday.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
