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Bail revoked for Bevin van Liempt for using social media to message yet another girl, sharing court-protected information with an Abby News reporter who called police

Fraser Valley music teacher Bevin van Liempt is spending the summer behind bars for continuing to violate court orders, making it clear that he’s a “high risk for stalking” and a “danger to public safety,” according to a judge.

Van Liempt’s relentless romantic pursuit of two 17-year-old female music students led to two convictions of criminal harassment followed by two allegations of breaching release conditions. Out of custody, awaiting sentencing for the criminal harassment and trial dates for the breaches, he allegedly did it yet again by contacting a third female in violation of a ban on using social media.

He also shared the names of his victims with an Abbotsford News reporter, which was determined to also be a violation of the ban on sharing his victims’ identities.

The latter accusation is somewhat curious in that he shared the names with me several months ago. I also knew them from attending court as anyone would have, but I never reported them so no ban on publication was violated. The reporter didn’t report on the case before or after receiving the names. They are an accredited court reporter so van Liempt argued that the identities were not revealed to the public and the reporter could have heard them if they were in court and the responsibility would be on them to not violate the ban.

“[The reporter] works at the Abby News,” he said in response to cross-examination from Crown counsel Dorothy Tsui. “I believed [they were] contracted to cover this specific trial…. I imagined … training as a court reporter would tell [them] how to deal with that and not reveal that to the public. I understand it has not been revealed to the public.”

His problem, however, is that the reporter reported him to the police for sending the email, which he said he did to “correct the public narrative and [ground] it in factual reality rather than speculation.”

Having twice been released on bail to live with his mother and previously violating release conditions, Crown applied to have his bail revoked for the above. But his release plan was yet again to live with his mother who in the past defended his behaviour. His mother is Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra conductor Paula DeWit.

“Mr. Van Liempt’s mother didn’t see it as a problem that her 33-year-old wanted to ask a 17-year-old out,” Tsui said at the hearing in June. “She blames the 17-year-old. She saw him in lessons and thought she was flirting with him.”

In deciding to revoke the bail, the judge addressed his mother’s “failure to recognize his concerning behaviour or, if she can, she was unwilling.”

As for leaking information to the Black Press reporter who called police, Crown said the reporter reported the emails to police because they were “concerned.” 

Finch has repeatedly painted van Liempt as a victim throughout the proceedings despite the fact that he is convicted of criminal harassment.

“He finds himself a pariah in the musical community as a result of voices of condemnation,” Finch told the court. “He has struggled to deal with that, the subject of a variety of news . . . quasi-news presentations.”

The latter a reference to Something Worth Reading, this website.

“A great deal of commenting was made by readers of this particular quasi-news presentation. The upshot of it was, it escalated in rancour and negative views he has had to live with.” 

To suggest that he is a pariah in the music community because of public reporting on the case and not what he did is a leap of logic. The irony is that the reason the case and some of the details got public attention in the first place is because of the community. More than two dozen members of the music community expressed thanks, encouragement, asked questions, and provided background and context for the situation with van Liempt and DeWit.

In revoking bail on all four informations before the court, with a sentencing date now in September, the judge also issued a ban on van Liempt contacting the third female via Instagram messenger and the reporter.

The judge determined that van Liempt represents an imminent and high risk for stalking, that he is a danger to public safety if released, and the plan to live with his mother “will not attenuate that risk.”

Prior to that application to revoke his bail, he had already spent close to 70 days in pretrial custody. That number is over 100 by today (July 24, 2025) and will be close to 150 by the time he is sentenced in September.

This month a trial date in October was scheduled for one of his original breach charges. 

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Paul J. Henderson
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