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

The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by online harasser Aideen Cuban to overturn his conviction in Canada for harassing British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd. Amanda’s mother called the ruling “a moment of justice.”

Cuban, a Dutch national, was first extradited to Canada, where he was tried and sentenced to 13 years in prison, before being sent back to the Netherlands, where he was already serving a prison sentence for other crimes. His Canadian sentence was reduced to six years by Dutch authorities.

Now, the Dutch Supreme Court has upheld the sentence and rejected a request by Cuban’s lawyers to have the sentence reduced to zero. His lawyers had argued that the maximum sentence had already been applied in a similar Dutch case against him. But the court said that Dutch criminal law does not allow for the conversion of the Canadian sentence in this particular case.

Amanda’s mother, Carol Todd, said the sentence had brought her a sense of peace and solace. “This decision is a sign of justice for the actions [Coban] took against my daughter Amanda,” she said.

Cuban was convicted in 2022 by the British Columbia Supreme Court of extortion and harassment of Amanda. Amanda committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 15 after years of online blackmail and harassment by Cuban.

A month before her death, Amanda released a nine-minute video in which she used flashcards to describe her experiences of the abuse and its impact on her life. The video has been viewed millions of times.

A court in the Netherlands also sentenced Cuban to nearly 11 years in prison in 2017 for similar online crimes against 34 girls and five gay men.

Carol Todd also called for laws in Canada to protect other victims, citing the rise in online child sexual abuse. According to Statistics Canada, the number of online sexual crimes against children reported to police increased by 58 per cent between 2019 and 2022.

He called on Canadian politicians to reach an agreement on national legislation on the matter, stressing that it should not take months or days.

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