Dutch court postpones conviction for man who sexually extorted Amanda Todd
Judges in Amsterdam want more information from the Canadian authorities about the conviction of a Dutch man who was convicted in British Columbia last year of extortion and harassment of teenager Amanda Todd.
The Dutch court was expected to announce on Thursday how it would commute Aydin Coban’s Canadian sentence of 13 years into the Dutch legal system, but instead delayed the decision. A date for a new hearing has not been set.
The judges said they want clarification from Canada on the most likely date Coban would be released if he served his sentence in a Canadian prison.
Coban’s lawyer says Canadian officials provided several possible release dates but did not name the “most likely date,” which caused the delay.
Last fall, Coban was sentenced to 13 years by the BC Supreme Court for racketeering, harassment and other crimes against Todd, who was blackmailed into exposing himself in front of a webcam.
The 15-year-old Port Coquitlam teen died by suicide in 2012, weeks after recounting her years of torment in a YouTube video that had been viewed more than 15 million times.
Coban was already serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar crimes against 33 other victims when he was extradited to Canada to face Todd’s case.
He will begin serving his Canadian sentence in the Netherlands once that first prison sentence expires in August 2024, but the newer sentence had to be commuted in accordance with Dutch law.
Last month, a prosecutor in the Netherlands said a Dutch court would typically sentence an offender to four years for the crimes committed against Todd.
Still, Kasper van der Schaft urged judges to give Coban an extra six months and acknowledged that Canadians familiar with Todd’s case would be shocked if the 13-year sentence were reduced by more than half.
Coban’s Dutch lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said his client should not receive an additional prison sentence after a sentence that was “exorbitant, even by Canadian standards”.
He also said his client felt he had already received a bit of “life imprisonment” because Canadian authorities released his name in connection with the criminal case – something the Dutch authorities are not doing.
LOOK | Amanda Todd’s mother reacts to Coban’s possible sentence reduction:
Carol Todd says Aydin Coban should serve his 13-year sentence and that she has no regrets about his global recognition because of his Canadian trial.
At sentencing in October, Canadian judge Martha Devlin explained how Coban used 22 different aliases to chat with Todd on Facebook, YouTube and Skype, demanding webcam shows. He sent her more than 700 messages over more than two years and, according to Devlin, made “persistent online threats.”
Coban, who was in his 30s at the time, threatened to send photos and videos of Todd in compromising positions to her friends and family.
When Todd refused to comply with his demands, Coban posted and shared suggestive and pornographic images of Todd on Facebook, in YouTube comments, and uploaded to image hosting sites.
While she disagreed with the Crown’s argument that Coban was the “dominant factor” in Todd’s suicide, Devlin said the man’s harassment contributed to her mental health problems, depression and substance use.
“Ruining Amanda’s life was Mr. Coban’s stated goal and unfortunately he accomplished that,” Devlin said.
Aydin Coban, the 44-year-old Dutch man convicted of sexually extorting BC teen Amanda Todd, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. The parents of Todd, who committed suicide ten years ago, say they finally have justice for their daughter.
