A judge in the Netherlands has ruled that the Dutch man convicted for sexually extorting B.C. teen Amanda Todd should serve six years in prison.
Aydin Coban wasn’t present in Amsterdam District Court for a brief hearing to announce the sentence. His lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said he would appeal the decision to the Dutch Supreme Court.
Coban was convicted last year in B.C. of extortion, two counts of possession of child pornography, child luring and criminal harassment against Todd.
He was given a 13-year sentence in B.C. Supreme Court, but conversion hearings were held in the Netherlands this year to bring the punishment in line with Dutch law.
Dutch prosecutors in the summer had recommended a sentence of just over four years in prison. Malewicz, who had called the B.C. sentence “exorbitantly high, even by Canadian standards,” had said then he believed Coban should not get any extra prison time, or, failing that, a monthslong sentence.
Defendant still serving separate sentence
Todd, of Port Coquitlam, died by suicide on Oct. 10, 2012, at age 15. The previous month, she had uploaded a nine-minute video — since viewed millions of times — detailing the abuse she experienced and how it had affected her life in a series of flash cards.
Carol Todd, who has advocated for the prevention of cyberbullying in the wake of her daughter’s death, told CBC’s Early Edition in June that she wanted to see Coban serve his full sentence, but had reconciled herself to the fact that it would be shortened in accordance with Dutch statutes.
“I think that there will be a lot of upset and disappointed people out there because, as we know, Amanda’s story has gone global,” she said. “It will also upset experts in the field of exploitation and child sexual abuse, because the goal is to get the predators off the streets, or to provide more security measures so that kids can be safer from exploitation.”
Carol Todd, whose daughter Amanda died by suicide after cyberbullying and harassment, says she wants the man convicted in her daughter’s case by a Canadian court to stay in prison in the Netherlands.
Court in B.C. heard that Coban, who was in his 30s at the time, threatened to send images and videos of Todd in compromising positions to her friends and family. He had created nearly two dozen aliases to pursue his cyberbullying campaign.
Justice Martha Devlin said in handing down the sentence that “ruining Amanda’s life was Mr. Coban’s expressly stated goal. Sadly, one that he achieved.”
Coban is serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands after being convicted on similar charges involving the online extortion of 33 young girls and gay men. The sentence imposed Thursday will be served after he completes his current prison time next year.