- Extortion, child luring, child pornography, and harassment were among the charges levelled against Aydin Coban.
- Amanda Todd, who was 15 at the time, posted a video in 2012 detailing how a man had harassed her online.
- It received millions of views on YouTube and sparked a national discussion about online bullying.
A Dutch man accused of harassing a Canadian girl who later committed suicide was found guilty of multiple charges by a British Columbia court.
Extortion, child luring, child pornography, and harassment were among the charges levelled against Aydin Coban, 44.
Amanda Todd, who was 15 at the time, posted a video in 2012 detailing how a man had harassed her online.
It received millions of views on YouTube and sparked a national discussion about online bullying.
Ms Todd committed suicide only five weeks after uploading the video and shortly after explicit photos were leaked on the internet.
In 2017, a Dutch court sentenced Coban to 11 years in prison for blackmailing and harassing dozens of young women on the internet, some from as far away as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
He was later extradited to Canada, where he was charged with making and distributing child pornography, extortion, and harassment. He is not, however, charged in the death of Ms Todd.
Coban will serve his sentence in the Netherlands, which will be determined at a later hearing.
Carol Todd, Ms Todd’s mother, told journalists in court after the verdict on Saturday that she believed the court had sent a strong message that “sextortion” has consequences even across international borders.
“This day has been the best day since Amanda was born,” she told . “This day, Amanda’s voice really shone through.”
During a seven-week trial that included dozens of witnesses, prosecutors argued that Ms Todd, who lived in British Columbia with her father, was pursued for years by Coban via 22 fake social media accounts. This harassment included requests for sex acts to be performed online as well as threats to send explicit photos to her family and friends if she refused.
In his defence, Coban’s lawyer did not present any evidence.
According to prosecutors, Ms Todd stated on Facebook that a man had been blackmailing her for years. They claimed that the harassment began in November 2009, just before she turned 13 years old.
Her mother testified that her daughter was terrified as a result of the messages she received on the internet, and that the teen’s distress grew with each incident.
Ms Todd claimed in a widely shared YouTube video posted before her death that she was enticed to expose herself on a webcam by a stranger online. After the photos were shared on Facebook and sent to people she knew, she was bullied by her peers.
“If I could say a message to Amanda, it would be that we always believed you,” said mother
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