Prosecutor: Bostyon Johnson ‘preyed on’ young family members for 12 years

An Alameda County prosecutor alleged on Monday that instead of protecting his younger family members from the evils of the world a 37-year-old man molested them over a 12-year period.

In his opening statement in the trial of Bostyon Johnson on charges that he sexually assaulted his half-brother, stepsister and cousin, prosecutor Peter McGuiness said Johnson “preyed on them” and “did evil things to them for his own sexual gratification.

McGuiness said the three victims “had to live with the shame and embarrassment” of being molested and asked jurors to hold Johnson accountable for his actions.

McGuiness said Johnson’s family life is complicated because two of the alleged victims are his half-brother, identified in court documents as John Doe, and his stepsister, Jane Doe 2, and they became Johnson’s stepchildren when he married their mother, Robin Johnson, who previously had been his stepmother.

Bostyon Johnson also is accused molesting their cousin, Jane Doe 1, who was a minor at the time.

McGuiness said Johnson’s biological father and Robin Johnson took him into their home in Oakland in 2000, when he was 18.

Bostyon Johnson later formed a relationship with his stepmother and eventually they got married after his father found about the relationship and left their house.

The charges against Johnson include oral copulation with a child under the age of 14, lewd acts with a child and continuous sexual abuse on the three alleged victims.

The sexual abuse allegations surfaced after Robin Johnson was struck and killed by a CHP motorcyclist while she was jaywalking on West MacArthur Boulevard near Market Street in Oakland at about 10 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2012.

McGuiness said when Bostyon Johnson’s father left and he married his stepmother:

“He became the man of the house and had constants access to the other children.”

McGuiness also alleged that Robin Johnson turned a blind eye to Bostyon Johnson’s sexual assaults by telling them that they must have been dreaming when they said he had abused them.

McGuiness said:

“She chose the defendant (Bostyon Johnson) over her children.”

Johnson’s half-brother, who is now 23, was about 8 years old when Johnson started molesting him and his half, sister, who is now 26, also was first molested when she was about 8, McGuiness alleged.

The prosecutor said Johnson forced the girl to perform oral sex on him every morning until she was 17.

Johnson’s cousin, who is now 18, was first sexually assaulted by Johnson when she was age 12, McGuiness said.

Defense attorney Kellie Blumin said the charges against Johnson are without merit and alleged that Johnson’s family members made up the allegations because they blamed him when their father moved out and their mother was killed by the CHP motorcyclist.

This is Johnson’s second trial. His first case ended in a mistrial last May with jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting him.