Hello, I'm Layla McKinnon. Welcome to a current affair. Once the post-boy of Omega Church, now fighting to clear his name, Brian Houston's fronted court today for allegedly concealing his father's abuse. Steve Marshall was there. Morning, Mr. Houston. Do you have anything to say ahead of your court day today? This isn't the spotlight for the first time. Do you have anything to say ahead of your court day today? This isn't the spotlight Brian Houston's used to. Do you have anything to say to the victims of your father? The global performing pastor, losing his bearings, amid an intense media scrum at Sydney's Downing Center Court. Anything to say, Mr. Houston? Which way do you go? Leaving here without a conviction at the end of this 14-day hearing could be Houston's biggest challenge. According to former Hillsong insider, turned victim's advocate Donald Ali. When he looked across at Brian, Houston encores today, what did you see? Incredibly stressed out. He doesn't know which way it's going to run. No one does. But it's a sorry tale of a whole thing. Houston faces up to five years in jail with the magistrate finds and guilty of concealing a serious, indi-diable offense. Not telling police his late father, Richard Frank Houston, sexually abused Brett Sangstock in the 1970s, who was seven years old at the time. Mr. Stock spoke to 60 minutes about his ordeal at the hands of Frank Houston in 2018. I could not speak. I couldn't scream. I couldn't push back. I just went rigid and I couldn't breathe. I was petrified. Today, Brett Sangstock waived his rights to court-ordered anonymity. On the stand, he described an attempt by Frank Houston to buy his silence on the back of a signed survey yet when he met him and another pastor at a cafe. He was eating and had a napkin. It was sort of scrunched up with food all on it. And he said, sign here, sign here. Frank said the same thing. It will all be over with. You'll get your money. Don't we just saw Brett Sangstock come out? As a witness, how did he appear to you? He did well. He got a little emotional, but that's to be expected. He's a pretty broken guy. At the heart of this case is one crucial question. Did Brian Houston have a reasonable excuse not to tell police about his father's sexual abuse of a seven-year-old boy? Houston strenuously denies the charge of concealing his late father's offense. Do you believe these are trumped up charges? The globetrotting pastor says he didn't learn about his dad's sexual abuse against boys until 1999. And once it was made public, it wasn't just him that knew about it. There is no doubt about it. Before Frank Houston died, tens of thousands of people knew about his offending, including police officers. The prosecution pointed to an interview Houston gave to Nines' inside story. Telling the court he knew in 1999 his father's act was criminal. We didn't cover it up. We did tell people straight away. We did take his credential off him. He never did preach a game. And we did oversee and ensure that he was never put in a position to be close to kids to be able to do that again. What we didn't do is report it to the police. Brian Houston was president of the National Body of Assembly of God Churches when Frank came clean on his pit affiliate. Houston says he never reported it to authorities because Sennstock agreed to a secret $10,000 compensation payout. And it was Sennstock who did not want the matter to go any further. Yes, okay. I'll get the money to you. You know what you've felt all this happened? You tempted my father. How poignant was it having Brett Sennstock and Brian Houston in the same courtroom together? I think Brian would find that room confronted. And I think Brett would have found that difficult in some ways. Although I think he was happy to have his day in court so to speak. The court also heard allegations of threatening behaviour. From former bikey and ex-con turned committed churchgoer, he was given Mad Dog modifit towards Sennstock. Who's bananas for Jesus? Hallelujah. There you go. Praise God. Who organized Mad Dog to go and visit victim? What do you think the next 13 days have in store for those? No one knows. Do you still have a valid excuse for not telling authorities about your dad's pit affiliate? The hearing is expected to take two weeks.