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Aidan Coban is charged with extortion, harassment, communicating with a young person to commit a sexual offense and possession and distribution of child pornography in connection with Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd.
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Amanda Todd took her own life in 2012 after becoming a victim of cyberbullying. Photo by Mike Bell /PNG
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NEW WESTMINSTER — A Dutch man accused of torturing British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd through online threats has been found guilty of all charges he faced in the case, a jury ruled Saturday.
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Aidan Choban was charged with extortion, harassment, communicating with a youth for the purpose of committing a sexual offense and possession and distribution of child pornography. The jury presiding over his trial in British Columbia Supreme Court returned its unanimous verdict a day after deliberations began.
The teenager’s mother and supporters cheered as the verdict was read. Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother, smiled through tears as the jury confirmed the verdict was unanimous.
Coban, wearing a blue button-down shirt and dark pants, pursed his lips as the verdict was read but otherwise showed little emotion. He craned his neck to look at the jury as they left the room.
Jurors were asked two questions earlier in the day but returned their verdict minutes after receiving the answers.
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Judge Martha Devlin said the Crown and defense were scheduled to meet Aug. 11 to set a sentencing date.
Todd was 15 when she died by suicide in 2012 after posting a video describing how she was being bullied online.
The harrowing account, watched by millions of viewers after her death, saw her use flash cards to describe the agony of her anonymous cyberbullying. Her plea and subsequent death shed light on the issue of online bullying and cyberbullying.
Aidan Coban is shown in distributed photos from the time of his arrest by Dutch police included in an exhibit at his trial in British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster. Photo by HO /THE CANADIAN PRESS
At the start of his trial in June, Coban pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. He has not been charged in connection with Todd’s death.
Crown attorney Louise Kenworthy told the jury in closing arguments that two hard drives seized from the Dutchman’s home had links to Amanda Todd, including a deleted bookmark to child pornography depicting the girl.
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She said at the start of the trial that Todd had been the victim of a constant campaign of online “sexual blackmail” for three years before his death.
An RCMP officer testified that he found “actual chat snippets” between Todd and several of the online aliases used to harass her on a device seized from Coban’s home.
After summarizing the evidence in closing arguments, Kenworthy said the only conclusion the jury could reach was that Coban was guilty.
His defense did not call any witnesses in the case, and his attorney, Joseph Saulnier, told the jury in closing arguments that snippets of evidence cited by police during the trial could not link Coban to Todd’s extortion or harassment.
A Dutch court has approved Coban’s extradition to Canada following his trial there on similar charges.
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Coban was sentenced to almost 11 years in prison after a trial in Amsterdam in 2017 for cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men.
He was convicted of fraud and internet extortion and received the maximum sentence of 10 years and eight months, for what Dutch judicial authorities said were the “devastating effects of his conduct” on the lives of his victims.
The court heard that Coban pretended to be a boy or girl and convinced his victims to perform sexual acts on a webcam, then posted the images online or blackmailed them by threatening them. He was accused of abusing 34 girls and five gay men, behavior the court called “astounding”. In some cases, the abuse lasted for years.
Outside the courtroom, the mother of the teenager from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, said she was “elated” by what she called a “just” verdict on all five charges.
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“I’m just more than happy that after waiting patiently for the last eight years, we’ve come to a conclusion that everyone, not just me, not just our family, but a lot of people in, around, outside of Canada, will be so happy to hear,” said Carol Todd in an interview.
Carol Todd said her daughter’s legacy will not fade even though the case is now over. That brought talk of sexual extortion to the fore, she noted.
“It set a new precedent,” she said. “And Amanda is the one who made it happen for us.”
Defense lawyer Saulnier said he was “disappointed” by the sentence.
“This is not what we hoped for or expected. This is not at all the sentence we expected on any of the five charges,” he said. “Now we have to consider our options. So, we’re going to talk to our client. There is a possibility of an appeal, but we need some time to make a decision.”
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During the nine weeks of the trial, Todd’s mother said she wore glittery shoes and nail polish in her daughter’s favorite shade of purple.
She sat behind Coban during the trial and looked at him when the verdict was read.
Todd said she was “pleased” to know she was in that room.
Her daughter would have turned 26 on November 27 this year. She said she’s going to have a drink in her honor on Saturday night, but she hasn’t decided what it will be yet. She thought about her daughter’s favorite foods, which include straight-from-the-jar peanut butter, mac and cheese, and pizza.
“She was a teenager,” her mother said with a laugh.
Carol Todd will begin work on her victim impact statement and is looking forward to a holiday in three weeks.
The teenager’s mother, who works as a teacher, said she will return to gardening, growing tomatoes, peas, purple beans and corn, and will work to raise awareness about sexual assault now that the case is almost over.
“It was a difficult case.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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