Foster Abuse

April 12, 2013 permalink

Tim Bachman was an early member of the Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive. He retired from music and became a real-estate agent in British Columbia, doubling as a foster parent. His former foster child Stacy Bohun, now age 24, has accused him of sexual improprieties when she was 11 to 14.

An aside in the article says that when Stacy was in foster care her mother committed suicide. The article makes no connection between these two facts.

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Former foster child tells of 'sick and twisted' relationship with legendary Canadian rocker

By Neal Hall, THE CANADIAN PRESS April 11, 2013

Former foster child tells of 'sick and twisted' relationship with legendary Canadian rocker

Stacy Bohun is shown outside court in Chilliwack on Wednesday.

Photograph by: Neal Hall, THE CANADIAN PRESS

CHILLIWACK, B.C. — One of the early members of Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a sexual relationship with a girl between the age of 11 and 14, a B.C. judge was told this week.

“I felt the relationship was very sick,” Stacy Bohun, 24, recalled during court testimony in B.C. Supreme Court, where Tim Bachman is on trial for sex assault, sexual interference of a person under 14 and sexual touching of a young person.

“He would get me to sit on his lap and kiss him,” she added. “One time he tried to French kiss me ... It was just a lot of weird, inappropriate things.”

A ban on publication was imposed in 2010 on Bachman's name to shield the identity of the complainant. But the bans on both Bachman and Bohun were lifted Wednesday by Justice Neill Brown after an application by a reporter with The Canadian Press.

NAMES BAN LIFTED

The request was for the ban to be lifted on Bachman’s name, but Bohun told the judge she didn’t mind being publicly identified.

The judge said usually the identities of sex assault complainants are shielded to protect their privacy, but he lifted the ban on Bohun’s name at her request.

“I’m not afraid,” Bohun, now 24, said after the judge’s ruling. “I want people to know it’s OK to talk about it.”

She said children cannot provide consent to having a sexual relationship with an adult.

“It took me a long time to realize that,” Bohun said.

FOSTER CHILD

At the time of the alleged sexual abuse, from 2000 to 2004, Bohun was a foster child living in Bachman’s home in the Fraser Valley. She recalled having a troubled childhood. When she was a one-year-old, her three-year-old sister, Casey Bohun, vanished without a trace from the family home in Delta, B.C., in August 1989. Her mother, Barbara Bohun, took her own life in 2001 while Stacy was in foster care at the Bachman home.

“I miss her every day,” Stacy Bohun said of her mother, tears welling in her eyes.

“I can’t imagine losing my own baby,” she added, noting she now has a baby, born last July, and can’t imagine what her mother went through.

STRONG FOR HER KID

Bohun said she knows she has to be strong for her own child and be a good mother. She hopes one day to work with children as a youth counsellor or teacher. She said she was put in foster care because she started “acting out” and her mother felt unable to cope.

Before the ban was lifted, Bohun told the court that her foster father, Bachman, would grope her breasts. As an 11-year-old, her breasts were small and she told the court Bachman gave her breast enhancement pills.

He would also caress her buttocks and vaginal area with his fingers but they never had sexual intercourse, she said, although she almost had sex with Bachman one day.

Bachman was giving Bohun a ride in his van and they stopped to discuss sex and her losing her virginity, she told the judge.

TALKED ABOUT SEX

“I said if I was going to lose my virginity, it should be him,” she testified. “That’s how sick and twisted the relationship was.”

Bachman responded at the time by saying “If we’re going to do this, we should do it now,” she told the court.

But she backed out, Bohun testified, estimating she was 13 or 14 at the time of their conversation.

She finally ended their four-year sexual relationship in 2004 at 14 when she ran away from the Bachman home, she said.

“I just remember being fed up and not being able to take it anymore,” she said.

STARTED TAKING DRUGS

Bohun blamed herself for allowing it to happen and started taking drugs to help kill the painful memories, she testified. Finally, Bohun went to police in 2009 and revealed her under-age sexual relationship with Bachman, she said. Bachman was charged in 2010.

Cross-examined by Jack Harris, Bachman’s lawyer, Bohun admitted her drug use affected her memory. The lawyer pointed out that when Bohun testified at Bachman’s preliminary hearing, she said she had “flashbacks” of what happened with Bachman.

The defence lawyer suggested she may have imagined or visualized a sexual relationship with Bachman, which she now believes are real memories.

“The drugs affected my memory but the memories are still there,” the witness replied. “The drugs made it harder to remember the exact times.”

'FLASHBACK' MEMORIES

Harris pointed out that the witness previously said she had “flashback” memories of her mother’s tragic death, even though she wasn’t there when her mother died. The witness explained that she tried to imagine how her mother died.

Harris suggested the witness imagined and visualized the incidents with Bachman, much like she did for her mother’s death.

“All I know is I was sexually abused. I remember that,” the witness replied. “I’m not making things up ... It’s horrible what he did to me.”

REAL ESTATE AGENT

Bachman, 59, has been a Fraser Valley real estate agent for many years. Now white-haired, he came to court wearing a blue pin-striped suit.

He was an early member of BTO along with his brother Randy Bachman, a founding member of the Guess Who before he left the band in 1970.

The Winnipeg-based BTO released its first album in May 1973. The band’s second album, Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, released in December 1973, became a huge hit in the U.S. and Canada, with hit singles Let it Ride and Takin’ Care of Business. In 1974, Tim Bachman left BTO, which eventually sold almost 30 million records worldwide. He has rejoined BTO for tours over the years.

Source: Vancouver Province

Addendum:Not Guilty.

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Rocker Tim Bachman found not guilty on sex charges

Ex BTO member was charged after former foster child complained to B.C. police

CBC News, Posted: May 1, 2013 2:38 PM CT, Last Updated: May 1, 2013 5:37 PM CT

Tim Bachman was found not guilty of three sex-related charges in a New Westminster court on Wednesday.

Eric Dreger/Canadian Press

Tim Bachman, a founding member of Bachman-Turner Overdrive has been found not guilty of three charges for an alleged sexual relationship with a girl, in a New Westminster, B.C., courtroom today.

The former rocker was charged with sex assault, sexual interference of a person under 14 and sexual touching of a young person following a complaint to police by a woman who was a foster child in his home from the time she was 11 until she was 14.

Stacy Bohun, 24, alleged Bachman would grope her when she was a foster child living in his home in the Fraser Valley. She went to police in 2009 and Bachman was charged in 2010.

On Wednesday, Justice Neill Brown concluded that Bohun's testimony was not reliable enough to support a criminal conviction.

During the trial, court heard Bohun had a difficult childhood, which included living in a string of foster homes, her mother's suicide and her own addiction to crystal meth.

A publication ban was imposed on Bachman's name in 2010 to shield the identity of Bohun. But the bans were lifted last month by the judge after an application by The Canadian Press news agency, with the approval of Bohun.

Winnipeg brothers had 1973 hit album

Bachman, 59, and his brothers Randy and Robbie, were founding members of the Winnipeg-based Bachman-Turner Overdrive, also known at BTO.

The band's second album, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, was released in December 1973 and became a huge hit in the U.S. and Canada, with hit singles Let it Ride and Takin' Care of Business.

In 1974, Tim Bachman left BTO, but rejoined the band in the 1980s for several reunion tours. He has been working as a realtor in Abbotsford since the early 1990s.

Source: CBC