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.
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