WARNING: This article contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
The message to Amanda Todd came via YouTube in April 2011.
The sender’s name was new. But the language and threats were familiar: “I’m back…Do you miss me?…How’s your new school?…I have a new flash video of you.”
Todd, who would have been 14 years old at the time, was offered two options.
“Choose. Gate One: You do five shows for me, 30 minutes each and then I’m gone forever,” the message continued.
“Gate Two: Fuck your life in this new school like last time. One week to decide.”
The threat was read into the record at the British Columbia Supreme Court on Monday along with others sent via Facebook, Skype and other forms of social media on the first day of the trial of the man accused of “sextorting” Amanda Todd.
The messages allegedly followed the teen across the internet as she moved from school to school between 2009 and 2012.
Crown prosecutor Louise Kenworthy told the jury that the variety of threats, demands and deadlines came from 22 different user accounts.
But she claimed that they were all ultimately controlled by one man: Aydin Coban.
‘You’re going to do what you’re told’
The 43-year-old is charged with possession of child pornography, extortion, seduction of children and stalking Todd, who became a public face in the fight against cyberbullying after his suicide death in October 2012. He did not is accused of his death.
Coban, who was extradited from the Netherlands to British Columbia in December 2020 to stand trial, watched Kenworthy deliver his opening remarks from the prisoner’s dock, where he sat in an open-collared black shirt with his hair gray combed back to a point just above the neck. .
The trial began with a court clerk reading aloud each of the five counts, and Coban standing up to plead “not guilty” to each.
The prosecutor described Cobán as a sextortionist: “someone who extorts another person and demands a sexual act of some kind.”
She presented a scheme in which the defendant allegedly used a series of fake usernames and social media accounts during four separate episodes in which he threatened to send graphic images of Todd to family, schoolmates and teachers unless she agree to perform “sex shows”. “
Kenworthy said Coban also allegedly used other accounts to impersonate teenagers and potential friends in order to obtain more material that he could use for sextortion.
“Last chance or I’ll start sending the videos to everyone on your Facebook, school and newspapers in your city,” one message read.
“Look camera whore enough of you acting like a good guy… you’re going to do what you’re told or I’ll ruin your life,” read another.
Kenworthy said graphic images of Todd were sent through Facebook accounts to user lists that included members of his family and hundreds of people associated with the teen’s high school.
She read an email from an account purporting to belong to an employee of an “independent online child protection agency.”
‘I understood what we were seeing’
A number of witnesses are expected to testify over the course of the seven-week trial, including Amanda Todd’s parents, a friend, a teacher and police officers who investigated the case.
Kenworthy said the trial will also involve Dutch police officers who raided Coban’s home in the Netherlands in 2013 and 2014 and seized a desktop computer, laptop and hard drives.
She said forensic examination of the computer equipment showed that while much information had been removed, there were still files linking Coban to the fake usernames and accounts, as well as video trails containing Amanda Todd’s name.
Carol Todd was the first witness to take the stand.
She began her testimony by identifying herself as the mother of Amanda Todd. She also confirmed the date of her daughter’s death and identified her from a school photo posted on court screens, including one directly in front of Coban.
Todd said his daughter loved to sing and learned at a young age to take videos of herself and post them online.
“It was a time when Justin Bieber became famous online and Amanda, like many other people, wanted to be famous, just like Justin Bieber,” he said.
Todd described receiving a message from a stranger in December 2010 with a link to a graphic image: “I clicked and saw what it was…and I think my heart skipped a beat, but I knew enough to capture it.” she said.
The RCMP became involved and more emails and links followed, including one to an adult porn website where images of Amanda Todd had been posted.
“It was a link to a video…it was her topless…no shirt on…Did I click the link to continue watching any part of the video? No,” Todd said.
“I understood what we were seeing… what had been done was child pornography.”
‘She was scared. she was scared’
As time went on and the family met with police, Todd said his daughter’s level of anxiety increased. She felt guilty and ashamed and worried about getting into trouble.
“I was scared. I was scared, and with Amanda, when she got anxious, it just escalated. She wanted something to be done about it,” Todd said.
“With each message she received, her anguish increased, because at that moment she felt that she was being followed, that a stranger was stalking her.”
On the way to the courtroom, Todd said that he intended to serve as his daughter’s voice. He wore a snowflake necklace as a reminder to a girl that she was as unique as she was loved.
Aydin Coban’s attorney, Joseph Saulnier, also spoke to the media outside the New Westminster courthouse.
He said he is confident the jury will make the right decision in the case. But she said the publicity surrounding Amanda Todd’s death is challenging.
“There is no doubt that Amanda Todd was the victim of many crimes. This case is about who was behind it,” he told reporters.
“All the people who have heard of this story, who think they know what it is, who have read or heard things that might not be accurate, that’s where I hope people can keep their minds open and really listen to the evidence in the trial”.
Reference-www.cbc.ca