Dutch judges delay Aydin Coban’s sentencing in sextortion of Port Coquitlam teen

Judges in Amsterdam want more information from Canadian authorities as they consider the sentence of a Dutch man convicted last year in British Columbia of the extortion and harassment of Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd.

The Dutch court was expected to announce today how it would convert Aydin Coban’s 13-year Canadian sentence to fit the Dutch legal system, but instead delayed the decision and didn’t set a date for a new hearing.

The judges want clarification from Canada about the most likely date Coban would be released if he were to serve his sentence in a Canadian prison.

Coban’s lawyer says Canadian officials have provided several possible release dates but have not offered the “most likely date,” prompting the delay.

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Coban blackmailed Todd into exposing herself in front of a webcam and the 15-year-old died by suicide in 2012 after recounting her years of torment in a YouTube video watched by millions around the world.

Coban was already serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar crimes targeting 33 other victims when he was extradited to Canada, convicted, and handed the 13-year term.

His lawyer says the sentence is “exorbitantly high,” and should be converted to no more than one-year additional year, with six months suspended, on Coban’s Dutch sentence.

Speaking to CityNews, Amanda Todd’s mother Carol Todd says considering there was a possibility that Coban’s sentence would be reduced to “zero, … the four and a half years suggested, is a lot better than hearing zero, which might be why I am not as angry and upset as others would expect me to be.”

However, she notes if Coban received “zero” time in prison, she would be “heartbroken.”

“Yes, Amanda’s trial created case precedents in Canada, but still justice for Amanda is still important and still very much needed. In order to close that chapter, for not only me but for everybody in the world who has followed her story, because her story was one of the most — one of the high profile ones that brought to light exploitation and sextortion,” Carol Todd said.

“So it’s really important that there’s some kind of closure and that he gets something.”

Carol Todd is also holding out hope that despite his defence team requesting him to serve zero-time, she says she’s being hopeful that the judge’s delay means they are considering a lengthier sentence.

“Fingers crossed that it might be more than four and a half years,” she said. “[I’m] looking at this in the half-full mode instead of the half-empty — I’m really angry about this, [but] I have to look at it in that other perspective because let’s be hopeful that maybe it’s more than the four and a half years, right?”