‘It has been a long road’: mother hopes her daughter’s alleged online tormentor brought to justice in B.C.
Posted December 29, 2019 6:30 pm.
Last Updated December 29, 2019 6:38 pm.
PORT COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) –Amanda Todd’s mother wants her daughter’s alleged online perpetrator to finally stand trial in Canadian court next year, six years after charges were laid against him.
Amanda’s mother Carol Todd hopes the fact lawyers were back in court last week means Aydin Coban is one step closer to being brought to justice in British Columbia.
“It has been a long road, but it’s another step to know things continue to move forward,” she tells NEWS 1130.
Coban was charged in 2014 with five crimes alleged to have been perpetrated against Amanda. He is currently serving a sentence in the Netherlands after being found guilty in the online abuse of dozens of young people.
However, Todd says cases like her daughter’s don’t have borders and Coban has never had to answer for what happened to her daughter.
“Even though it’s thousands and thousands of miles away, predators need to understand that they can be caught, they can be tried, they can be found, and they can’t hide behind a country,” she says. “People are watching this story to see what happens because it can open up doorways to other predators being caught and brought over to whatever country they crime took place in.”
Canada and the Netherlands have an extradition treaty, but Todd hopes the case can help set a precedent in other countries without similar treaties.
Amanda took her own life in 2012 after posting a YouTube video describing she had been blackmailed by someone online. She was 15 years old.
“Crimes against children…and predator rings it’s awful, it’s out there, it’s everywhere. What we need to make parents understand is that it can happen so easily,” Todd says. “The only way that we can prevent this is to, yeah catch the predators, but also by having these conversations with our kids to ensure safety.”
Earlier this month, prosecutors filed for Coban to be brought back to Canada and held in a B.C. jail before going to trial.
