The mother of a B.C. teen who took her own life after being harassed and extorted by a Dutch man fears he won’t see any extra jail time, despite being handed a 13-year Canadian sentence.
Aydin Coban was convicted of harassment, extortion, child luring and possession and distribution of child pornography this summer in the high-profile Amanda Todd case.
The terms of his extradition to Canada require him to be returned to the Netherlands before the end of the month, where his Canadian sentence will be converted to the Dutch system.
“We can only wait and see what happens when he returns and he goes through the sentence conversion hearing that will happen in the Netherlands,” Amanda’s mother Carol Todd told Global News Morning BC.
“It’s in the hands of the Dutch now.”
Coban was already serving a nearly 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar crimes involving 33 children, a fact that could not be reported during his Canadian trial due to a publication ban.
Todd said her concerns were based on legal analysis recently reported in the Dutch press, which suggested he could escape additional time behind bars because of the previous sentence on similar offences.
Dutch lawyer Louis deLeon, who practices international criminal and extradition law, told public broadcaster Omroep Brabant that because Coban had already been given the maximum sentence for what he described as the same offence that chances were small he would be handed more time behind bars.
Coban’s sentence of his Dutch charges is due to expire in August 2024.
“When I hear the part where he may not get any prison time, it frustrates me, I get all those feelings of grief when I lost Amanda, so the anger, the frustration, the sadness, the feeling he’s going to be out on the streets eventually, that’s scary for me,” Todd said.
“On the other hand, Amanda’s trial has set case precedent in Canada, whereby trials moving forward on exploitation and cases similar to Amanda’s the bar has been set higher for criminals to be convicted and sentenced, so that’s the good part and I always remember that part.”
Amanda Todd was 15 years old when she died by suicide in October 2012 after Coban had harassed and sexually blackmailed her over a period of several years.
His Canadian trial heard that he sent her nearly 700 messages between 2009 and 2012, some from accounts meant to befriend and collect information about her, and others used to attack and extort her.
Coban obtained a topless video clip of the young teen and used it as leverage to try and force her to perform webcam sex “shows,” and followed through on threats to send it to her friends, family and school community when she refused.
Weeks before her death, she recorded a YouTube video in which she silently held up cue cards documenting her abuse. The video went viral and became a symbol in the fight against online harassment.