Sydney -
The first Australian priest to be charged with covering up sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church has died before facing court, news reports said on Monday.
Cancer patient Father Tom Brennan died on Sunday in a hospital in Newcastle, 160 kilometres north of Sydney.
The 74-year-old was too ill last week to attend court to answer a charge of failing to report to police claims of sexual abuse by another priest.
Police alleged Brennan concealed child sexual offences by a defrocked priest in the 1970s. - Sapa-dpa