Trial begins for Dutch man accused of extorting and harassing Amanda Todd

Jun 6 2022, 7:37 pm

A criminal trial began in Metro Vancouver this morning for a Dutch man accused of cyberbullying Canadian teen Amanda Todd before her death by suicide in 2012.

Aydin Coban, a Dutch man in his 40s, was extradited to Canada in 2021 to face trial for his alleged crimes in connection with her death.

Although he’s not named in the BC Supreme Court’s daily list because of a publication ban, there is a trial in New Westminster for crimes occurring in Port Coquitlam, BC, and Tilburg, North Brabant, Netherlands. The charges include extortion, criminal harassment, importing or distributing child pornography, possessing child pornography, and luring a child online.

Amanda Todd’s mother, Carol Todd, was outside the courthouse Monday morning. Daily Hive has requested an interview with her.

“She put herself out there and the world heard her,” Todd’s mother told reporters. “This is Amanda’s moment to say something … and hopefully the right outcome will come about.”

Todd died nearly 10 years ago, and shortly before her death posted a YouTube video about the bullying she endured. The black and white video where Todd holds up handwritten cards was shared widely.

In it, she describes going into online chat rooms in Grade 7 and being pressured by someone to reveal her breasts. Later, she received a message on Facebook from a man who threatened to distribute intimate photos of her if she didn’t “put on a show” for him.

Todd said the stranger who found her on Facebook knew her address, school, and names of friends and family.

She also describes switching schools, being bullied by peers, and anxiety and depression that kept her from going out during summer.

“I have nobody, I need someone,” one of her cards reads.

Coban has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison in the Netherlands in connection with an unrelated case. He was found guilty of 72 charges including child pornography, attempted sexual assault of multiple girls, and one count of webcam blackmail.

Dutch court document issued about the case described how Coban blackmailed his victims in a “ruthless” manner for his own financial gain.

He established contact online with multiple young girls, says the document, winning their trust by pretending to be a young boy or girl.

“In many cases, he … led girls to perform webcam sex acts,” says the document. “Later, he… demanded new shows in front of the webcam.”

The document explains that he would get the girls to comply by threatening to send explicit images of them to people they knew or post them online.

“If a girl did not respond to his demands, [the] suspect [did] not hesitate to actually send sexual images to the family and friends of the victim or [post them] on the web,” reads the document.

“You can guess what large and damaging impact this may have on the personal development of young girls.”

Megan DevlinMegan Devlin

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