WARNING: This article comprises the main points about sexual extortion and possibly those who have experienced it or know someone who is a victim.
The sentencing hearing of a Dutch boy convicted of harassing and extorting teenager Aguyda Todd of B. C. It began Tuesday with prosecutors recommending that he serve 12 years in prison for other young people for their “morally disgusting” abuse.
Crown suggests initiating proceedings in British Columbia. The Supreme Court described Aydin Coban’s online harassment as a “calculated, insensitive matrix. . . [and with] devastating consequences. “
They said Coban, convicted of similar crimes in the Netherlands, has shown “no interest in rehabilitation” and poses a major threat of recidivism.
“For those reasons, the Crown argues that maximum sentences will have to be imposed for each of the offences for which he was convicted,” prosecutor Louise Kenworthy said.
Coban, who is in his forties, is convicted of extortion, harassment, communicating with young people to commit a sex crime, and possession and distribution of child pornography. He was convicted in August after a nine-week trial in New Westminster, B. C.
Amanda, of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, committed suicide at the age of 15 on October 10, 2012, nearly 10 years ago.
WATCH | Carol Todd spoke to reporters at the beginning of the sentence:
She had endured nearly three years of torment from Coban, who used 22 pseudonyms to harass her online.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Coban sat in the prisoners’ dock wearing a blue military shirt. He turned his back on Amanda’s circle of relatives, adding her mother and brother, who were in the gallery.
The court heard that Coban sent more than 700 messages on 4 other platforms to Amanda and her entourage between 2009 and 2012. In what prosecutors described as 4 separate “episodes,” he threatened to send pornographic photographs of her to friends, family circles and school administrators. If she hasn’t accepted a webcam show.
When Amanda refused, Coban followed through on the threats. The court heard that Coquitlam RCMP was unable to hint at messages to Coban before Amanda’s death because he had personal networks, stolen Wi-Fi and other equipment to hide his IP address.
Amanda read the victim’s statements in court.
The teen’s mother, Carol Todd, posted a framed photo of her smiling daughter across her side as she read her statement, as well as a photo of her son, Christopher Todd, who she said missed her brother.
Carol Todd said she struggled with guilt for having done more to her daughter, whose love of making a song landed her on the web and eventually into the darkness of a guy who first called her charming and then exploited her.
“I hope he heard how I felt when he saw what Amanda had gone through with the trauma of what happened to him between 2009 and early 2012 and despite it all he didn’t think. . . that [life] was worth living. ” Carol Todd said after Tuesday’s hearing. Amanda’s father, Norm, who had refused to speak publicly in the decade since his daughter’s death, said in his opinion of the victim that it was highly unlikely that he believed the threats and “hidden. “evil” who surrounded his daughter after she was lured and exploited through a cyberbully.
“When I lost my daughter, every facet of my life was affected. I was fed by the pain and wanted to know why. I looked, I saw my daughter,” Norm Todd said Tuesday of the woman who kept laughing. , dance and sing in his mind.
“I struggled to identify with myself and my loved ones,” he said, adding that anger and sadness fed on him.
“My daughter deserved to have a happy, carefree formative years and not have to worry about the daily torment she was subjected to. “
Crown and defense lawyers will continue their comments this week on the severity of Coban’s sentence. On Tuesday, Kenworthy said there is an “extremely high” desire for a sentence that deters other offenders, as online extortion has “exploded” in recent years.
During the burglar trial, Kenworthy told jurors that a “treasure trove of” connected Coban to Amanda’s harassment, adding that it was discovered on two hard drives seized from his home.
Lawyers for Coban, who was extradited from the Netherlands to face the charges, argued that the Crown evidence did not turn out that he was the user of many of the online accounts used to harass the teenager.
Before her death, Amanda posted a video on YouTube describing the harassment she suffered online.
He used flashcards to recount his ordeal in the video, which has since been viewed by millions.
Coban has not been charged in Amanda’s death. His sentencing was originally scheduled to take a position last month. It was postponed after a Crown prosecutor tested positive for COVID-19.
Before Coban was extradited to British Columbia, a Dutch court sentenced him to nearly 11 years in prison for similar online crimes following a trial in Amsterdam in 2017, where he was accused of abusing 34 women and five men online.
This court heard Coban pretend to be a boy or a woman and persuaded his victims to perform sex acts in front of a webcam, then posted the photographs online or extorted them by threatening to do so.
He was convicted of web fraud and blackmail and sentenced to the maximum penalty for what the Dutch judicial government described as “the devastating consequences of his behaviour” on the lives of his victims.
The Crown has stated that on the most likely occasion that Coban will be returned to the Netherlands, it will be up to a Dutch court to determine how this new Canadian sentence will be changed and whether the sentences will be carried out or consecutively.
The hearing is expected to last for the most of the week.
Support can be obtained for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access local crisis lines and facilities through this Government of Canada online page or the Partnership to End Violence Canada database. For the protection of those around you, call 911.
If you or you know you have problems, here’s where you can get help:
Let’s Talk About Suicide Canada: 1-833-four56-four566 (phone) | four56four5 (text message between four p. m. y Eastern Time).
Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), chat on the website.
Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour facility.
This consultant from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health explains how to communicate about suicide with what you’re worried about.
With Renee Filippone and The Canadian Press
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