Hillsong founder Brian Houston has failed in his bid to have his court costs covered after he was acquitted of allegations he covered up his late father’s abuse.

The 69-year-old was found not guilty of one count of concealing the serious indictable offence of his late father, Frank Houston, following a trial last year.

The well-known former pastor denied he had covered up his father’s sexual abuse of a young boy in Sydney in the 1970s by failing to tell police about the crime.

Mr Houston’s legal team returned to court on Friday after applying to have his fees – which the court was told amounted to $1m – covered by the prosecution.

Magistrate Gareth Christofi dismissed the application, stating he was “not persuaded there were any exceptional circumstances relating to the conduct of the prosecutor”.

Mr Christofi told the court that he was not convinced the proceedings brought against Mr Houston were “initiated (by police) without reasonable cause”.

The application by Mr Houston’s legal team largely centred on whether police could, or should, have brought a number of witnesses and evidence to trial.

During a cost hearing last year, Mr Houston’s lawyer Phillip Boulten SC argued the prosecution should never have run the case against his high-profile client.

He argued the prosecution had excluded the possibility that Mr Houston was following the victim’s wishes when he failed to report his father’s crimes to police.

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Mr Houston’s legal team successfully argued at trial last year that the preacher had a “reasonable excuse” not to report his father’s abuse of victim Brett Sengstock.

The seven-year-old was sexually assaulted by Frank Houston at his family’s Coogee home in Sydney’s east while Houston was on a tour of Australia over 50 years ago.

The court was told Brian Houston was told by Mr Sengstock that he did not wish to make a statement to police and repeatedly relayed that to the church.

Speaking outside of court last year, Brian Houston said he wanted to “impress his sadness” to Mr Sengstock and all the victims of his late father.

“He (Frank Houston) was obviously a serial pedophile. A lot of people have been hurt … but I am not my father. I did not commit this offence,” he said.

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