The leader of a Perth Christian group with strong links to the Catholic Church has died days before his first court appearance on sexual molestation charges.Kevin Horgan, the brother of Leeuwin Estate owner Denis Horgan, died on Sunday night after a long battle with cancer.
He was due to appear in Perth Magistrate's Court last Monday morning to face five charges of unlawfully and indecently assaulting several female members of his flock in circumstances of aggravation and two counts of indecent assault.
The charges were laid by police in January after a four-year campaign by the alleged victims, some of whom had left Mr Horgan's Bethel Covenant Community because of incidents involving their leader.
Mr Horgan, 68, founded the ultraconservative Bethel group in 1979 and earned more than $100,000 a year as its executive director.
But he came under intense scrutiny in 2008 when several female members of the congregation made complaints about his inappropriate touching.
The West Australian 's exclusive reports revealed complaints about Mr Horgan dated back to the 1990s and had been detailed in written documents.
Archbishop Barry Hickey later apologised for not acting sooner after it was also revealed he had been warned about Mr Horgan's behaviour in 1994 and again in 2000.
The complaints mainly related to the inappropriate touching of women's breasts at Bethel functions.
After the collapse of Bethel, the group's assets, including its $10.45 million headquarters in West Leederville, were sold and the money was used to pay for counselling services for 35 women, some of whom had left Bethel several years earlier.
A new group, Micah Foundation, was formed to look after the money and a lawyer was hired to examine the women's complaints and prepare a report for police. The report was handed over last year.
Mr Horgan made $3 million when he sold the West Leederville home he bought with the help of a church-linked mortgage.
Some of the victims had considered suing Mr Horgan or Bethel.
Mr Horgan, who twice met Pope John Paul II, always refused to comment about the allegations.
His family is planning a private funeral.