Warning: This article has content that might be disturbing for some readers.
A high school friend of B.C. teen Amanda Todd has testified he took action when he saw what he described as a “pornographic” picture of her on Facebook in November 2011.
James Bennett, who took the stand at the trial of Dutch citizen Aydin Coban on Tuesday, told the court he was 13 at the time, and had attended Westview Secondary with Todd in Maple Ridge.
Coban has pleaded not guilty to extortion, harassment, child luring, and possession of child pornography.
The Crown alleges Todd was pursued for years by someone with 22 phony accounts, who tried to use explicit photos of the teen to get her to perform sex acts online. Todd died by suicide at age 15 in 2012.
Bennett, who is now 24, testified he reported the image to Facebook, told others to delete the material and also called police.
Outside court, he remembered Todd as someone with an open heart and kind soul.
"I didn’t want those images to be shared of my friend, and didn't want other people to be seeing them, and didn’t want other people to be exposed to that," he said. "At the root of it, it felt wrong to have it on there and it felt like the right thing to do to make sure that it was taken down."
Todd’s mother Carol said hearing Bennett’s testimony “warms my heart”.
“I think as a 13 year-old, he was smart, he was brave and he was wise,” she said outside court. “The important thing to take out of what James did was that we have to talk to our kids about what is right and what is wrong and if they see something, and they know it’s not appropriate, not right, not safe, they need to report it.”
An officer also testified about visiting Bennett’s home following his report and taking pictures of what was on the computer screen.
Bennett told the court the name on the Facebook account that was sharing the material was “Austin Collins”. He testified the account’s profile indicated they were also a Westview student, and he did not know anyone in real life by that name.
Amanda’s mother previously testified about hearing her daughter shriek after seeing a Facebook account with the same name using a topless photo of her as its profile picture in November 2011. She told the court the account had also connected with friends and acquaintances of her daughter online.
The trial also heard from a former vice-principal and counsellor at the school, Tricia McCuaig, who testified about contacting the police in November 2011. She told the court she and other administrators and staff had received an email from an unknown person about Todd. The email referred to an explicit video of Todd and contained links.
Bennett said his heart goes out to Todd’s family and everyone affected by her death.
“She was always a friend to other people, even though a lot of people weren’t necessarily a friend to her,” he said. “I think that she would be happy to see the impact that her story has created…the need for education that the whole movement created. If I was to speak to her again, I would say I miss her.”
In the month before her death, Todd shared a video online which shows her silently holding up flash cards outlining years of torment.
Coban’s defence has previously said the case is about whether the Crown can prove who was behind the messages sent to Todd.
Testimony in the trial is set to continue on Thursday.
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