Who is Aydin Coban? Dutch national convicted of sexually extorting Amanda Todd who died by suicide
COURTENAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Dutch national Aydin Coban, 44, has been found guilty of sexually extorting Amanda Todd, a teenager from British Columbia who committed suicide at the age of 15 on October 10, 2012.
A jury in the British Columbia Supreme Court convicted Coban on Saturday, August 6, 2022, of extortion, two counts of possession of child pornography, child luring, and criminal harassment. He had been extradited to Canada from the Netherlands in 2020.
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Coban pleaded not guilty to five charges, including extortion, harassment, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offense, and possession and distribution of child pornography at the start of the trial two months ago. In response, Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin told the jury that the law could only find Coban guilty of the five charges if prosecutors manage to present their case beyond reasonable doubts, otherwise they must emancipate him.
"Do not place Amanda Todd's statements on the same footing as the statements of a witness who testified for you in this trial," she told the jury. "Give her statements special care and the weight you think they deserve."
The verdict came after weeks of testimony and pieces of evidence presented by the prosecutors. Todd’s attorney Louise Kenworthy started her opening statement by telling the jury that Amanda Todd has been the victim of online harassment and "sextortion". The harassment broke her and pushed her into depression before she took her life.
In her closing statements on July 26, 2022, Kenworthy told the jury that there was a "treasure trove of information" that directly links Coban to harassing the teen.
Amanda Todd of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, had posted a YouTube video in which she was seen using flash cards to describe how she sank into depression after being exploited. In the video, she revealed that a few years ago, she was exchanging texts with a man she met online. In no time he flattered her and at his request, Todd decided to flash him. But breaking her trust, he took the objectionable pictures of hers. Then he proceeded to stalk her on the internet and kept asking her to put on another show for him. When she refused to do so, he found her classmates on Facebook and sent them her explicit pictures.
To cope with the anxiety, Todd started taking drugs, and alcohol and started engaging in sexual encounters. Her classmates ostracized her. She attempted to take her own life a few times before finally succeeding.
During the trial, the judge found out that Coban was convicted in Amsterdam for similar charges involving many young girls and gay men. Coban was harassing teenagers for a long time now. He used to win the trust of his victims and convince them to send him intimate photos that he later used to blackmail them.
In April 2017, he was jailed for nearly 11 years for the online abuse and for blackmailing 34 girls under the age of 18, a sentence upheld on appeal at the end of 2018.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).