VANCOUVER -- A Dutch man has been extradited to Canada to face charges connected to the death of a B.C. teenager, CTV News has learned.
Aydin Coban is accused of cyberbullying 15-year-old Amanda Todd, who died by suicide in 2012.
"They informed me that he had just arrived on a flight and that he was in custody,” said Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother.
“I can honestly say the first emotional feelings brought me back to the night I found my daughter. It was just a shock to my system that everything that we had been talking about for the last eight years … he was finally here.”
The B.C. Prosecution Service told CTV News Friday that Coban made his first court appearance in the province on Dec. 8.
He's expected to appear again next week for a pre-trial conference in New Westminster more than eight years after Todd's death.
Coban was charged in 2014, but Canadian officials could not seek his extradition until another case against him wrapped up in the Netherlands.
In B.C., he faces one count each of extortion, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and criminal harassment. Additionally, he faces two counts of possession of child pornography.
"Some of them do have mandatory minimums which would require a jail sentence, and many of them carry high maximums -- facing 14 years in jail,” said Vancouver criminal lawyer Sarah Leamon.
In 2017, a Dutch court sentenced Coban to 11 years in prison after convicting him on similar charges against 34 other young people.
"If he is found guilty, I would suspect that the court would consider previous charges, particularly because they are of a similar nature to what he's facing here,” Leamon said.
He is in custody while in the province.
The Port Coquitlam teen posted a video online before she died, outlining allegations of bullying and blackmail.
Her case has generated international interest and raised awareness of cyberbullying.
"She'd be very proud at the conversations we're having, the discussions we're having, what we're doing, what has happened, and what will happen,” said Carol Todd.
She travelled to the Netherlands for Coban’s trial there and says she is anxious to face him in court again in Vancouver.
"I am Amanda's mother forever,” she said. “Whether she's breathing or not breathing, I will support her and I will be her advocate."
