The trial of a Dutch man accused of harassing and extorting B.C. teen Amanda Todd heard Monday from a police officer who flew in from the Netherlands.
Lt. Erik Verstraten was part of a raid involving 10 officers with the Dutch National Police at a vacation home in a bungalow park in Oisterwijk in January 2014, 15 months after Todd’s death.
Verstraten, a military veteran and member of the DNP’s Open Source Intelligence Division was working with the child abuse investigation team at the time of the raid.
He is expected to give evidence about items seized from bungalow 55 in the De Rosep holiday park. The court has heard how the team conducted a covert operation at the bungalow about a month before officers moved in to arrest Aydin Coban.
Coban, 43, has pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges, including possession of child pornography, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and criminal harassment.
Crown alleges Coban obtained explicit images of Todd, which he used to try and leverage her into performing pornographic shows for him on webcam with 22 fake social media profiles between 2009 and 2012.
Crown further alleges he sent links to the explicit material to Todd’s family, friends and school community.
The case hinges on the question of identity. Defence has said there’s no question Todd was the victim of crimes, but that there’s no link between Coban and the online extortionist.
Information can be manipulated on the internet, defence argues, and there must be proof beyond a reasonable doubt about who sent the offending messages to Todd.
The trial resumes Tuesday.
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