A Dutch man accused of blackmailing British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd online has been found guilty of all charges he faced in connection with the case. a jury ruled on Saturday.
"My body was temporarily in shock," said Carol, Amanda's mother, describing her feelings upon hearing her verdict. She said, "There have been so many disappointments along the way, haven't you? To hear five 'guilty'." It was like Amanda got justice.
Aydin Coban was accused of extorting, harassing, communicating with young people to commit sexual offenses, and possessing and distributing child pornography. A juror presiding over his trial in BC. The Supreme Court handed down the judgment unanimously the day after its deliberations began.
When Todd was 15, he committed suicide in 2012 after posting a video describing being tortured by online harassers.
A harrowing account watched by millions of viewers after her death featured her using flash cards to describe distress from an anonymous victim of cyberbullying . Her plea and subsequent death shed light on the problem of online harassment and cyberbullying.
"This is an unarmed monster that practices fear," said the law. Expert Ali Her Goldkind said. "He's using the Internet, using cyberbullying as a tool, and taking people's lives."
Coban's attorneys expressed disappointment with the ruling.
"This is not what we wanted or expected," said Joe Saulnier, Cobain's lead attorney. "So we talk to the client. There is a possibility of an appeal," he said.
Todd's mother hopes the trial will set a landmark precedent.
It's time to put 'sextortion' into the penal code," Todd said. "That way, our families and children will be safer."
Coban pleaded not guilty to all charges when the trial began in June. He was not indicted in Todd's death.
Attorney Louise Kenworthy said in closing arguments before a jury that two hard drives seized from the home of a Dutch man were found to be that of Amanda Todd. A child porn bookmark depicting a girl had been deleted.
At the beginning of the trial, she said Todd had been the victim of constant campaigns of "sextortion" online for more than three years before her death.
RCMP officers found "real snippets of chats" between Todd and several of the online aliases used to harass Todd on a device seized from Coban's home.
After piecing together the evidence in closing arguments, Kenworthy said the only inference the jury could draw was that Cobain was guilty.{31
His defense did not call witnesses in the case, and his attorney, Joseph Saunier, told jurors that snippets of data cited by police at the trial linked Coban and Todd to blackmail and harassment.
A Dutch court approved Covan's extradition to Canada after a trial on similar allegations in Canada.
Coban was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison after being tried in Amsterdam in 2017 for cyberbullying dozens of girls and homosexuals.
He was convicted of fraud and Internet extortion and sentenced to the Supreme Court, where Dutch judicial authorities said "his actions had devastating consequences" on the lives of the victims.
The court found that Coban pretended to be a boy or girl and persuaded the victim to engage in sexual acts in front of a webcam. , said to have posted the image online and threatened and threatened him. He was accused of molesting 34 girls and 5 gay men. In some cases, the abuse continued for years.
Carol Todd says her win in court is the happiest she's been in her decade. But her efforts and healing aren't over yet.
"It's not a closure," said Todd. "This is just another chapter completed. But Amanda's legacy lives on." , says she will continue to share her daughter's story.
Sentence date he will be announced on the morning of August 11th.
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