Rocker Tim Bachman had 'sick' relationship with girl, court hears

A co-founder of iconic Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive had an alleged 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 and with the approval of Bohun.

"I'm not afraid," Bohun, now 24, said in an interview outside court after the judge's ruling. "I want people to know it's okay 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 outside court.

Foster care

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 shewas just a 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.

Bohun said she knows she has to be strong for her own child, born last July, and be a good mother. She hopes one day to work with kids as a youth counsellor or teacher.

Years of abuse

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.

She finally ended their four-year sexual relationship in 2004 whenshe ran away from the Bachman home, she said. She was 14 years old.

"I just remember being fed up and not being able to take it anymore," the witness recalled.

She blamed herself for allowing it to happen and started taking drugs to help kill the painful memories, she testified.

Bohun went to police in 2009 and revealed her under-age sexual relationship with Bachman, she said. Bachman was charged in 2010.

Memories questioned

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 defense 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."

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."

Musical success

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 a founding member of BTO along with his brother Randy Bachman, who had been 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, was released in December 1973 andbecame 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.