Dutch man gets 13 years in prison for Amanda Todd case

A Canadian court has sentenced Dutch man Aydin C. to 13 years in prison for extortion and intimidation of Amanda Todd, a Canadian girl who took her own life in 2012, according to Canadian media.

The Canadian judiciary on Tuesday demanded 12 years in prison for C. The prosecutor called the man's actions "morally reprehensible." The Dutch man's behavior had devastating consequences, and he must be locked up to protect further harm to other children, according to the judiciary. The judge acknowledged that a "significant prison sentence" was in order. Canadian media call it unusual for a judge to impose a higher sentence than requested by the Public Prosecution Service (OM).

"To ruin Amanda's life was C.'s emphatic goal, and unfortunately he achieved that," the judge said. The judge blames C. heavily, because he was involved for years with so-called "sextortion" –– extortion with sexual images –– of the young teenage girl. "Using technological means, whereby he concealed his own identity, C. obtained information about Amanda that he used in his criminal acts. He manipulated Amanda with friendly admonitions and threats which he also fulfilled," the judge stated in her verdict.

On Thursday, C.'s lawyer had argued for a two-year prison sentence for his client. More imprisonment would be "unnecessarily heavy" for C., who has already been sentenced to 11 years in the Netherlands for similar crimes against 33 young victims. A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security says that Aydin C. has been extradited to Canada for his trial and that he will eventually come to the Netherlands to continue serving his sentence.

Canadian Amanda Todd took her own life 10 years ago at the age of 15. After her death, she gained great international fame through a video that she had posted online. In the video, the teen explained that she had been extorted with nude images of herself. C. is held responsible for this. The Dutch man, who was not prosecuted before her death, denies all guilt.

The Netherlands extradited C. to Canada in 2020, where a jury found him guilty. The court in New Westminster was actually supposed to determine a sentence a few weeks ago, but that fell through because a prosecutor had contracted coronavirus.