Global News has confirmed the man who is accused of cyberbullying and extorting B.C. teenager Amanda Todd has been extradited to B.C. to face charges.
The extradition was not publicly announced, but the lawyer for Aydin Coban, 42, confirmed his client was transferred to Canada in December.
The Dutch resident is accused of tormenting the 15-year-old from Port Coquitlam who took her own life in 2012.
Coban was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the Netherlands in 2017 for fraud and blackmail for his role in cyberbullying dozens of other young girls and gay men.
The BC Prosecution Service confirmed Friday that Coban made his first appearance in B.C. on Dec. 8, 2020.
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His next appearance is scheduled for Feb. 12 for a pre-trial conference in New Westminster.
According to Justice Canada, Coban withdrew the appeal of his Dutch conviction in August 2019.
The BC Prosecution Service made its application in late 2019 for an order to allow for Coban’s detention in British Columbia when he arrived in Canada.
In the Canadian case, he faces five charges including extortion, possession of child pornography, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and criminal harassment, the BC Prosecution Service confirmed.
Coban has denied involvement in any cyberbullying and he remains in custody.
Amanda’s mom, Carol, told Global News when she was informed by the RCMP about Coban’s extradition, her first question was when he might arrive in the country.
“I was told he had just arrived and he was being taken into custody,” she said. “It was very surreal, it sort of shocked my body. I went back into that shock mode of Oct. 10, 2012, finding Amanda and it took me a while to process that information that he was really here.
“It was like a dream that all of a sudden came true.”
Amanda Todd died by suicide after being cyberbullied after sexualized images of her that were being shared online.
She brought cyberbullying to mainstream attention by posting a video on YouTube in which she told her story with handwritten signs, describing how she was lured by a stranger to expose her breasts on a webcam.
“This changes everything because this is my daughter’s story, this is Amanda’s story. This is justice for her,” Carol told Global News.
– with files from The Associated Press
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