“Snippets” of computer data cited by police cannot link a Dutch man to the molestation and extortion of British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd, his defense attorney says.
Joseph Saulnier, representing Aidan Coban, began his closing arguments Tuesday afternoon by telling a British Columbia Supreme Court jury that they should convict his client only if they are convinced of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“There is limited information you can extract from a fragment of data, especially in deleted space,” Saulnier told the jury. “In fact, there was often evidence that these fragments or files came from elsewhere.”
Coban pleaded not guilty to extortion, harassment, communicating with a young person for the purpose of committing a sexual offense and possession of child pornography.
Crown attorney Louise Kenworthy closed her arguments earlier in the day, saying she had a “treasure trove of information” linking Coban to Todd’s harassment and extortion.
But the main problem in the trial, Saulnier told the jury, was that the identity of the person behind the messages and extortion could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Coban’s defense presented no evidence during the trial.
Amanda took her own life on October 10, 2012 after posting a video on YouTube saying she had been blackmailed by an online predator. (TELUS Originals)
“Even if you find that Mr. Coban is probably guilty, that’s not enough. It is not beyond a reasonable doubt,” Solnier said.
There was “plenty” of evidence at trial that Coban repaired computers and replaced hard drives, some of which he received in the mail, his lawyer said.
“My opinion is that this may explain some of the devices he has,” he said. “If he’s the computer guy who works and fixes these devices, there’s a connection, they’re in his bungalow.”
He warned the jury against the Crown’s use of the term “sextorter,” calling it “advocacy.”
At the start of the trial two months ago, the Crown told jurors that Todd had been the victim of a constant campaign of online “sexual blackmail” for three years before her death aged 15 in October 2012.
“I’m not going to use that term,” Saulnier said. Coban is not accused of sexual extortion.”
‘All roads lead to Mr Coban’: Crown prosecutor
Attorney Kenworthy said earlier Tuesday that although the evidence against Coban was circumstantial, two devices seized by police linked him to the teenage girl from Port Coquitlam.
“All roads lead to Mr. Coban,” Kenworthy told the jury as she took them through the evidence found on the two devices, which she said showed they were used by the Dutchman.
“He is the man who committed these crimes. There is no other reasonable conclusion.’
A police officer testified at trial that he found evidence that several of the accounts used to extort Todd originated from the two devices seized by Dutch police when Coban was arrested in January 2014.
Kenworthy told the jury that a letter of employment and bank statements with Coban’s name were also found on one of the devices.
She also said a Skype account associated with another alias used to harass Todd was active on a device at Coban’s home just minutes before he was arrested.
Facebook records show the Skype account “KelseyMeowz” is run by the same person who uses the alias “KelseyRain2” who previously contacted Todd, she said.
“So what does that mean? It means that the user “KelseyMeowz” was next to this computer at the time. What time is it in Dutch time? It’s 9:55 p.m. Mr. Coban was arrested alone at his residence at 10 a.m. Mr. Coban is KelseyMeowz. Mr. Coban is KelseyRain2.”
Kenworthy told jurors they did not need to accept all or even most of the inferences made by the Crown to be satisfied that Coban was the man who committed these crimes.
“This is a clear case.”
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