British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd said on Facebook she had been blackmailed by a “pedophile” for years after she warned people about an account she said the perpetrator operated, a lawyer for the Crown in the BC Supreme Court.
In closing arguments in Dutchman Aydin Coban’s trial, Kristen LeNoble told jurors that Todd made the post shortly before receiving a message from another Facebook user asking him to perform sexual “shows” on camera or videos of her exposing her breasts would be sent. to his family and classmates.
The teenager from Port Coquitlam, B.C., had recently moved with his father to a nearby community and started attending a new school, LeNoble said.
Coban has pleaded not guilty to extortion, stalking, communication with a juvenile to commit a sexual offense and possession of child pornography.
LeNoble began closing arguments Tuesday by telling jurors the Crown will spend the next few days helping them “unpack” the significant amount of evidence, including testimony from more than 30 witnesses and notebooks filled with 80 exhibits.
When they were finished, he said, the Crown would have done it proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Coban was the person behind 22 separate online aliases used to extort Todd for several years before passing away almost a decade ago.
Some of the messages feigned support and tried to build a relationship of trust with Todd, while others threatened to ruin his life, LeNoble told the jury.
LeNoble showed the jury a message the bully sent to Todd’s family and school administrators while posing as a member of a child protective agency, which included a link to a pornographic website that it showed a video of the teenager.
He described how another alias on Facebook was used to send messages with the same link to 99 users on Todd’s friends list on the social network.
The harassment began just before Todd turned 13 in November 2009, she said.
“Kind enough,” LeNoble said, reading one of the messages in which the stalker threatened to publicly distribute a video of Todd exposing her breasts.
“You will do as you are told… I already have 17 people in your family, 52 classmates and teachers from your school through your official site. I can send them at this time, along with the child protection agencies, that you will pursue. ,” she reads.
“Your life will never be the same… Either you do what I say, and after 10 shows where you do what I say, I’m gone, like nothing happened,” read the message, which LeNoble described as ” real bully hammer.” extortionate and attractive message”.
Crown prosecutor Louise Kenworthy told the jury at the start of the trial almost two months ago that Todd had been the victim of a persistent online “sextortion” campaign for three years before his death aged 15 on October 2012.
Carol Todd testified that her daughter was scared when the messages came to her attention, and Amanda’s distress increased with each incident.
LeNoble showed the jury a message Amanda had sent to her cousin and other people she knew after the video of her exposing her breasts went viral.
In the message, Amanda said she had “flashed” about “200 guys” on YouTube the previous year because they were “begging” and that she “thought it wouldn’t matter”.
The message shows the teenager wrote that he had “ruined” his life with that video because of the harassment and extortion that followed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 26, 2022.