Sunday, February 1, 2026
ADVT 
National

Dutch court rejects bid by Amanda Todd's tormentor to scrap Canadian sentence

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Jan, 2025 11:42 AM
  • Dutch court rejects bid by Amanda Todd's tormentor to scrap Canadian sentence

The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected online extortionist Aydin Coban's bid to scrap his Canadian sentence for tormenting B.C. teenager Amada Todd. 

Coban is a Dutch national who was extradited, tried and given a 13-year sentence in B.C., before being sent back to the Netherlands where he was already serving time for separate offences.

The Canadian sentence was then converted to six years by Dutch authorities.

The Netherlands Supreme Court has now upheld the converted sentence, saying in a decision posted online Tuesday that Coban's lawyers wanted the term reduced to zero because the maximum sentence had already been imposed in the similar Dutch case against him.

But the court disagreed, saying that those rules in the Dutch criminal code did not apply to the conversion of a sentence imposed in Canada.

Coban was convicted by B.C. Supreme Court in 2022 of the extortion and harassment of Port Coquitlam teenager Todd, who died by suicide at the age of 15.

She took her own life in October 2012 after being blackmailed and harassed online by Coban for years, starting when Todd was 12. 

The month before Todd died, she uploaded a nine-minute video using a series of flash cards detailing the abuse she experienced and how it had affected her life. It has since been viewed millions of times. 

, a Dutch court sentenced him to almost 11 years in prison for similar online offences following a trial in Amsterdam in 2017, where he was accused of the online abuse of 34 girls and five gay men.

MORE National ARTICLES

Trump calls on OPEC to bring down cost of oil at World Economic Forum

Trump calls on OPEC to bring down cost of oil at World Economic Forum
U.S. President Donald Trump told an elite global audience today that he is going to ask the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries to bring down the cost of oil. He made the comments in a wide-ranging address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump calls on OPEC to bring down cost of oil at World Economic Forum

Payments to shortchanged caregivers of kids with disabilities satisfy B.C. watchdog

Payments to shortchanged caregivers of kids with disabilities satisfy B.C. watchdog
British Columbia's ombudsperson says he's satisfied the provincial government has fixed a problem that shortchanged caregivers of children with disabilities to the tune of more than $1 million in federal funding.

Payments to shortchanged caregivers of kids with disabilities satisfy B.C. watchdog

2 recreational vehicles destroyed in fire

2 recreational vehicles destroyed in fire
Mounties in Hope say two recreational vehicles were destroyed in a fire that also damaged two others last night. They say officers, firefighters and paramedics responded to the fire in the area of the American Creek Forest Service Road.

2 recreational vehicles destroyed in fire

Snowfall warning for parts of BC's northeast

Snowfall warning for parts of BC's northeast
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for parts of B-C's northeast. The weather office says Highway 97 in the Pine Pass area is expected to see up to 15 centimetres of snow accumulation today.

Snowfall warning for parts of BC's northeast

Who's in and who's out of the Liberal leadership race

Who's in and who's out of the Liberal leadership race
The federal Liberals are running their first leadership race in more than a decade to replace the departing Justin Trudeau. Candidates must declare today by 5 p.m. ET with a $50,000 deposit towards a $350,000 fee to be in the race. The winner will be named on March 9. Here's a quick look at who's in and who's out.

Who's in and who's out of the Liberal leadership race

Karina Gould submits paperwork to enter Liberal leadership race on deadline day

Karina Gould submits paperwork to enter Liberal leadership race on deadline day
Liberal leadership contender Karina Gould submitted her official paperwork to enter the race to replace Justin Trudeau today. Gould said outside party headquarters in Ottawa that her party lost touch with Canadians at the end of the pandemic and needs to get better at listening.

Karina Gould submits paperwork to enter Liberal leadership race on deadline day