By Canadian Press

Crown calls final witness in trial for Dutch man accused of extorting B.C. teen

Jul 19, 2022 | 3:20 PM

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Crown prosecutors have called their last witness in the British Columbia Supreme Court trial for the Dutch man accused of extorting Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd before she died nearly a decade ago.

Aydin Coban has pleaded not guilty to charges of extortion, harassment, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and possessing child pornography.

The jury is expected to be called back next Tuesday, after hearing testimony over the last several weeks from Todd’s parents, RCMP officers, digital experts and Dutch police who were involved in searching Coban’s home before his 2014 arrest.

Crown prosecutor Louise Kenworthy told the jury at the start of the trial last month that Todd had been the victim of a persistent campaign of online “sextortion” over a three-year period, before her death at 15 years old in October 2012.

Kenworthy said one person had more than 20 usernames to contact the teen, and had threatened to send her friends and family photos that showed her exposing her breasts unless she performed sexual acts in front of a web camera.

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The girl’s mother, Carol Todd, told the jury trial that Amanda was scared when she brought messages from the online harasser to her attention, and her daughter’s distress increased with each incident.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2022.

The Canadian Press