Carol Todd worries Dutch man who harassed daughter Amanda may not serve sentence
Carol Todd is worried the Dutch man convicted of harassing and extorting her teenage daughter, Amanda, who later died by suicide, may not serve any of the 13-year sentence handed to him by a British Columbia court.
Todd says she knew at the start of the B.C. Supreme Court trial for Aydin Coban last June that his sentence would be converted once he returned to the Netherlands.
But Todd says it wasn't until a Dutch reporter contacted her after Coban was convicted in August that she learned he may not serve the Canadian sentence because a Dutch court had already handed him a maximum term for similar crimes committed around the time he was harassing Amanda.
Coban was sentenced to nearly 11 years in2014 for crimes involving more than 30 youth, and in 2017 he was extradited to Canada to face charges in relation to Amanda, including extortion, harassment and distribution of child pornography.
An information sheet by the Netherlands' Ministry of Justice says Dutch prisoners sent home after being sentenced abroad can either have prison terms commuted to the term they would have received in the Netherlands, or it would be continued and served out in full.
But it says a continued sentence “may never exceed the maximum sentence for the relevant crime in the Netherlands.”
'HEARTBREAKING'
Todd says the Dutch reporter spoke with lawyers who said Dutch law also stipulates when someone is convicted and sentenced, then found guilty of the same kind of offence in the same time period, the existing punishment applies.
She says it's “heartbreaking” to know Coban may not spend any of his Canadian sentence behind bars, but she reminds herself the trial has served a “good purpose” in Canadian law by setting a precedent for sentencing those who exploit children online.
Over the course of Coban's nine-week trial in B.C., the court heard he used 22 aliases to harass Amanda over two years, starting when she was 12 years old.
The trial heard Coban made good on his threats to send photos of Amanda exposing her breasts to her friends, family and school administrators unless she complied with his demands to perform sexual “shows” in front of a web camera.
Amanda was 15 when she took her own life in October 2012 in her Port Coquitlam, B.C., home, weeks after posting a video using flash cards to describe being tormented by an online predator.
Delivering the sentence on Oct. 14, Justice Martha Devlin said she had heard Amanda's voice.
“I have considered Amanda's words as expressed through her video and through messages she sent when she was alive,” Devlin told the court.
“She could not escape the images or videos. It was a 'never-ending story,”' she said, quoting fom Todd's description of her ordeal in the video.
Todd says her daughter would have turned 26 this weekend, just as Coban is set to be transported back to his country to serve the remainder of his existing sentence.
The trial heard he must be taken back within 45 days of his Canadian sentencing, which falls next week, and as of Wednesday, the Department of Justice says he had not been returned.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2022
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.