Suicide of Amanda Todd | Accused found guilty on all counts against him

(New Westminster) The Dutch man accused of online harassment of British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd, who later committed suicide, was found guilty on all counts by a jury on Saturday.

Aydin Coban was charged with extortion, criminal harassment, communicating with a teenage girl to commit a sexual offense and two counts of possession of child pornography. The jury needed less than 24 hours of deliberation before reaching this verdict.

“Yes” and cries of joy were launched by the mother of the young victim and people who came to support her. Carol Todd’s face lit up with a big smile and tears started to flow as the jury confirmed their unanimous decision.

For his part, Aydin Coban, who wore a blue shirt and dark pants, remained with pursed lips without showing more emotion when listening to his condemnation down the line. As he emerged from his courtroom, he craned his neck for a moment to look at the jury.

Earlier in the day, the jurors had posed two questions to the judge, but they agreed on a verdict just minutes after getting their answers.

Judge Martha Devlin summoned the Crown and the defense on August 11 for sentencing.

Amanda Todd was just 15 when she took her own life in 2012 after posting a video about how she was bullied online.

Coban had pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in June. In her instructions to the jury, Judge Devlin recalled that the Dutchman was not charged with the death of Amanda Todd.

Crown attorney Louise Kenworthy concluded her closing arguments on Tuesday by saying there was a “treasure trove of information” linking Aydin Coban to the harassment and extortion of Amanda Todd.

When the trial began nearly two months ago, the Crown told the jury that Amanda Todd had been the victim of a persistent online ‘sextortion’ campaign before her death at the age of 15 in October 2012 .

Earlier in the trial, Crown prosecutor Marcel Daigle cited testimony from a Dutch police officer who said a deleted video file called “AmandaTodd.wmv” was played on one of the devices in December 2010, which corresponds to a time when Amanda Todd was actively harassed.

The defendant’s attorney, Joseph Saulnier, had told the jury that the evidence presented “does not support the existence of a child pornography data file on Amanda Todd”.

A Dutch court had approved Coban’s extradition to Canada.

The individual was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison after being found guilty in 2017 of harassing dozens of girls and young gay men on the internet.

Coban was convicted of internet fraud and extortion, receiving a maximum sentence of ten years and eight months for what Dutch courts have described as “behaviour with devastating consequences” on the lives of his victims.

In the Netherlands, it was shown in court that Coban pretended to be a young girl or boy to convince his victims to perform sexual acts in front of their computer camera. He then broadcast images of his victims to blackmail them.

He was charged with abusing 34 girls and five boys. In some cases, the extortion lasted several years.

As she left the courtroom in Port Coquitlam, Amanda Todd’s mother said she was delighted to hear a “fair” decision on all five counts.

“I am more than happy to see that after having waited for eight long years, we have come to the conclusion that everyone, not just me and our family, but many people around us and even beyond the borders of Canada , will be very happy to learn,” said Carol Todd in an interview.

In his opinion, his daughter’s legacy will not be erased anytime soon even if the trial is over. She succeeded in forcing the debate on sextortion into the public discourse, she pointed out.

“It set a precedent,” she added. And we owe it to Amanda. »

In defense, Mr.^e Saulnier said he was “disappointed” with the verdict.

“It’s not what we were hoping for or what we were expecting. This is not the expected verdict at all on the five counts, he commented. Now we have to evaluate our options. So we’re going to discuss it with our client. The appeal is a possibility, but we have to take some time to make a decision. »

Throughout the nine-week trial, Carol Todd says she wore shiny shoes and nail polish in her late daughter’s favorite shade of purple. She sat every day behind the accused and gave him a look at the verdict.

She said she was happy to know that the accused was aware of her presence in the courtroom.

Amanda Todd would have been 26 next November. His mother promised herself to have a drink in his honor on Saturday evening.

For the rest, Carol Todd will begin to write her statement in order to show the judge the consequences of the actions of the accused for the determination of the sentence. Then she has to take a vacation.

The lady who works as a teacher also says she is looking forward to getting back to her garden, her tomatoes, peas and corn. She also intends to continue her work to raise awareness of sextortion.

With the Associated Press