Dutch suspects pleads not guilty in Amanda Todd suicide

Dutch webcam extorter Aydin C. pleaded not guilty to five charges by the Canadian Public Prosecution Service in the Amanda Todd case. C. is on trial for extorting the Canadian teenager, who took her own life after years of harassment in 2012, and for the possession of child pornography.

C. has already been convicted in the Netherlands. In 2017, the court sentenced him for digital stalking and extortion of 33 underage girls and a young adult woman, defrauding four gay men, and attempts thereto. In December 2020, the Netherlands extradited him to Canada to be tried separately for the extortion of then 15-year-old Amanda Todd. A video she posted on YouTube before taking her own life made her case world news.

On the first day of the trial, the Public Prosecutor explained how C. went to work, Canadian broadcaster CBC reported. He allegedly used 22 different accounts on platforms like Facebook, Skype, and Youtube to harass Todd. Between 2009 and 2011, Todd changed schools multiple times, but the online accounts - all of which belonged to C., according to the prosecution - continued to follow and harass her.

Todd's mother, Carol, also spoke at the trial. She shared how an unknown account approached her in 2010 with photos of her daughter without clothes. The account also sent her a link to a pornographic website, but Carol Todd said she didn't click on it because she knew it was child pornography.

The criminal trial is expected to take seven weeks. The Public Prosecutor also plans to have Dutch police officers who searched C.'s house in 2013 and 2014 and then seized computers and hard drives testify.