If this newspaper account is behind a paywall it can also be read here.
The Brisbane Courier Mail of December 18, 2023 reported :
Seven witnesses will be
questioned at an important hearing as court proceedings continue for a Sunshine
Coast Jehovah’s Witness figure facing 50 charges including historic rape
allegations.
The Mooloolaba man, who
cannot be named for legal reasons, did not appear in the Maroochydore
Magistrates Court on Monday, December 18, where his case was quickly adjourned
until 2024.
The accused was charged
in August, 2022 on 54 charges including rape, incest and torture, then was
taken into custody again in September after he was charged with six additional
offences.
A brief of evidence has
not been completed for the six charges and the man remains remanded in custody.
Police prosecutor
Jeanette Grigoris said seven witnesses will be cross-examined at a committal
hearing on March 20, 2024, which is expected to take one day.
Magistrate Chris
Callaghan said the man’s personal appearance would be required.
He faced court in person
for the first time in person for a directions hearing on December 11, where
defence counsel Remy Kurz applied for disclosure of evidence on the man’s
behalf.
Throughout the duration
of the hearing, the man pressed himself into the corner of the dock, turned his
back or covered the side of his face as to hide himself from the public
gallery.
The court heard on Monday
that 45 of the 54 charges involved one alleged victim, who was related to the
man, and several of the victims were in the same bible study group.
After considering the
application for disclosure from Mr Kurz, magistrate Chris Callaghan ordered
four of 39 items of evidence to be disclosed by prosecutions.
It was then revealed both
parties had been waiting for from the church regarding the time period during
which the alleged offences had occurred.
Mr Callaghan also ordered
for the documents from the church to be disclosed, inspected and copied to
prosecutions and the man’s law firm.
Mr Kurz said it was an
“unusual case” where the alleged offences span between 2008 and 2019.
“There are numerous
graphic recordings, effectively home sex videos,” Mr Kurz said.
He said the court must
look “back in time” to gain insight of what would become a key issue of a
trial, that being whether any of the victims had given consent.