(New Westminster) One of the lawyers for the man convicted of luring and sexually exploiting B.C. teenager Amanda Todd, who later committed suicide, recommended the court on Thursday a sentence of two years in prison, rather than the six years first suggested the day before.
Posted at 5:53 p.m.
During a sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Ms.e Joseph Saulnier pleaded Thursday that Aydin Coban was already serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar offenses committed against 33 young victims, and that an additional prison sentence would be “unduly harsh”.
The defense is therefore now asking for a two-year sentence, to be served after the end of the Dutch sentence, in August 2024. Me Saulnier underscored Thursday that the Canadian sentence would be served for the same wrongful conduct.
Judge Martha Devlin has repeatedly questioned Ms.e Saulnier: she recalled that she was not bound by the Dutch regime and that the offenses committed against Amanda Todd in Canada constituted a separate matter.
Coban was extradited to Canada to face justice in the Amanda Todd case. While on trial in British Columbia, he is simultaneously serving his Dutch sentence in a remand center in Port Coquitlam, his victim’s hometown.
Crown prosecutor Louise Kenworthy had recommended to the court on Tuesday a sentence of 12 years in prison, to be served after the Dutch sentence of Coban.
Me Kenworthy pleaded that the defendant began luring Amanda Todd when she was just 12 and tormented her online for more than two years. The prosecutor also pleaded that the crimes of the accused had been decisive in the suicide of the young girl.
Amanda Todd was 15 when she committed suicide in October 2012. She had just posted a video on social media where she used cardboard boxes to describe in words how she had been blackmailed for three years at the hands of from an anonymous online predator.
When she finally decided to stop performing for him online, Coban put his blackmail into action: he sent embarrassing photos and videos of the teenager to her family, students at her school and the management of the establishment.
Coban was convicted by a jury last August of extortion, criminal harassment, communicating with a minor to commit a sexual offence, child luring, and possession and distribution of pornography. juvenile. He had not been charged in connection with the teenage girl’s death.