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

One driver dead at scene of multi-vehicle crash on Metro Vancouver bridge

One driver dead at scene of multi-vehicle crash on Metro Vancouver bridge
The Surrey Police Service says one driver is dead and others have been injured in a multi-vehicle collision on the Patullo Bridge, a key route in Metro Vancouver. Police say the crash around 8:30 a.m. Sunday involved five vehicles, including a bus on the east end of the bridge.

One driver dead at scene of multi-vehicle crash on Metro Vancouver bridge

Feds to contribute $663M for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over 10 years

Feds to contribute $663M for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over 10 years
The federal government says it's kicking in more than $663 million in funding for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over the next decade, beginning next year.  Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says in a statement the funding is coming from the federal government's Canada Public Transit Fund, which was announced in 2024. 

Feds to contribute $663M for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over 10 years

Chrystia Freeland pitches tariff response plan that would target U.S. businesses

Chrystia Freeland pitches tariff response plan that would target U.S. businesses
Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland said Monday that Canada can avoid massive U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods by scaring the Americans away from the idea. In a media statement, the former finance minister called on the federal government to release a list of $200 billion in retaliatory tariffs to prepare for U.S. President Donald Trump to make good on his threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports.

Chrystia Freeland pitches tariff response plan that would target U.S. businesses

Student seriously injured in school bus rollover on Alberta highway: RCMP

Student seriously injured in school bus rollover on Alberta highway: RCMP
Mounties say a child is in hospital after a school bus flipped on a highway east of Edmonton. Officers were dispatched to the crash on Highway 16 near Vegreville after the lunch hour.

Student seriously injured in school bus rollover on Alberta highway: RCMP

Two people in hospital after accidental chlorine gas leak in downtown Saskatoon

Two people in hospital after accidental chlorine gas leak in downtown Saskatoon
Two people are in hospital after the accidental release of chlorine gas in downtown Saskatoon. Fire crews were called to the scene at Spadina Crescent and 21st Street East, where a Delta hotel is, around noon on Friday after a reported "hazmat incident."

Two people in hospital after accidental chlorine gas leak in downtown Saskatoon

B.C. chief wants Oscar-nominated residential school film to be part of curriculum

B.C. chief wants Oscar-nominated residential school film to be part of curriculum
The film "Sugarcane," directed by Secwépemc artist Julian Brave NoiseCat from Williams Lake in the B.C. Interior, and Toronto journalist Emily Kassie, received an Academy Award nomination this week for best documentary feature.

B.C. chief wants Oscar-nominated residential school film to be part of curriculum