WA bail variation application delayed

An application to vary the bail terms for a West Australian counsellor facing child sex abuse offences against 12 boys has been delayed because prosecutors did not show up to court.

Allan Keith Huggins is facing more than 60 charges of sexual abuse against boys aged between 11 and 17, dating back more than 20 years.

Among the offences are aggravated sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and sexual penetration of a juvenile male.

The charges stem from when Huggins was an education officer for the Warminda program, which helped troubled boys in the 1990s, and as a counselling psychotherapist at the Perth Adolescent Service.

Appearing in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, the court heard Huggins wanted to vary his bail conditions, which included a curfew between 6pm and 8am, an order to stay away from alleged victims, to not leave the state and report daily to police.

His lawyer David McKenzie said his client was being woken up several times at night by police when they visited him to check that he was abiding by his curfew and wanted to remove that clause.

"He's not able to sleep anymore," he said.

"Frequent curfew checks are affecting not only his sleep, but consequently, his mental health."

The magistrate noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had objected to bail outright but also noted that curfews were usually only for people likely to commit offences at night, which Huggins was not likely to do.

He said the DPP should be represented in court or at least update the police prosecutor so they could address the court adequately.

The bail variation application hearing will now be held on February 14.

Huggins will also appear in Perth District Court for a trial mention on April 17.

Huggins was granted permission in October to resume his counselling service for men on the proviso he had no unsupervised contact with anyone aged under 21.

A national hotline - 1800 552 203 - has been established to encourage alleged victims to come forward.