OAKLAND — The trial for the man charged with 17 counts related to child molestation and abuse against his half-brother and stepsister, who became his stepchildren, began Tuesday.
Bostyon Johnson, 36, is accused of years of child molestation and assault against “John Doe,” his half-brother and stepsister, and “Jane Doe 2.” The two became his stepchildren when he married their mother — also the woman he originally knew as a stepmother.
He also is accused of the abuse of another girl, who is a cousin. The charges against him include oral copulation with a child under 14, lewd acts with a child and continuous sex abuse on the three alleged victims.
Johnson’s case sounds like a Greek tragedy: With 13 brothers and sisters, he never knew his biological father until he showed up to Johnson’s foster home in Southern California around the year 2000 when he was 18, said his defense attorney Kellie Blumin in her opening statements Tuesday.
His father and stepmother took them into their home in Oakland, but from there, he formed a relationship with the woman. Eventually, his father kicked him out. But he moved back in later, and started a sexual relationship with his former stepmother after his father and stepmother split. After several years, when he was 22 and she was 35, they got married.
But later, his ex-stepmother and now wife was hit and killed by a CHP motorcycle in August 2012 when she was jay-walking on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland. It was after her death that the allegations of sexual abuse surfaced from her children and niece.
“Jane Doe 2,” who has no biological relationship to Johnson, is alleged to have been abused starting in 2002, when she was 14 years old or younger, until at least 2008. Her brother, Johnson’s half-brother, was also allegedly abused starting in 2006 and ended when he was about 16 years old in 2012, John Doe said. The cousin “Jane Doe 1” alleged abuse occurred in 2012.
John Doe, now 23, took the witness stand on Tuesday afternoon, and testified about the years of abuse. The man, who drove from Sacramento to take the witness stand, was mostly quiet and looked down during his short responses. He told prosecutor Peter McGuiness that this was “unsettling” and that he felt ashamed to be there.
“It’s a shameful thing to talk about,” he said.
Johnson first exposed himself to him when he was about 7 or 8 years old, he said. Even though he told his mother about it, she did not believe him. Then the allegations escalated to sexual abuse, when Johnson would bring him into the master bedroom, at times showing him pornography and then molesting him, he testified.
Despite the family, including John Doe and Jane Doe 2, their older bother, mother and Johnson moving homes several times, the abuse continued, and didn’t stop until he was 16, he said. The first person he told about the abuse was an investigator for this case, he said.
But defense attorney Blumin argued in her opening statements that John Doe’s sister, Jane Doe 2, blamed Johnson for a lot of the tragedy in their lives. The girl blamed Johnson when their father moved out, or even when their mother was hit by the CHP motorcycle and killed, the attorney said.
The root of the problem, the girl believed, was Johnson, Blumin said. As for her brother’s allegations of abuse, Blumin said his life turned upside-down when his parents divorced, and he was devastated when his mother died. But, he couldn’t stand Johnson, and wanted to support his sister “by bringing Bostyon down,” Blumin said.
The cousin, also one of the alleged victims, was mad at Johnson for not getting her a birthday present of Jordan sneakers years ago, Blumin said. The girl struggled with her sexuality, and wanting her mother to accept her, told her mom that she was gay because Johnson molested her, Blumin said.
Blumin asked the jury to “analyze the case based on facts, not emotions.”
The trial continues Wednesday before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rogers.