A child anti-exploitation officer with the Dutch National Police who was part of a team raiding a vacation home in The Netherlands in 2014 testified he found a passport, two large bundles of cash and a hard drive with a cable hidden in a box.
The box, said Lt. Erik Verstraten, in the second week of the Amanda Todd “sextortion” trial at BC Supreme Court in New Westminster, was tucked inside a stereo unit, which was inside a larger box in the home rented by Aydin Coban.
Before the 12-person jury, prosecutor Marcel Daigle showed pictures of the interior of the home after Dutch police had searched the Oisterwijk residence in January 2014 after Coban’s arrest.
Among the images were photos of Coban’s passport, as well as two bundles of money containing a total of 10,000 Euros (about CAD $13,500 today).
Verstraten, who was flown to Canada as a Crown witness, told the jury that “everything that had value to the investigation was seized” and catalogued by the evidence officer Sabrina Hendry. She is also expected to testify.
Coban has pleaded not guilty to
- extortion
- importing and distributing child pornography
- possession of child pornography
- communicating with the intent to lure a child
- criminal harassment
None of the allegations is proven in court.
Childhood friend
During the trial on Tuesday morning (June 14), a childhood friend of Coban's gave testimony from a courtroom in Amsterdam.
Speaking through an interpreter in New Westminster, the Turkish-born Adam Gokcimar, 46, told the jury the pair met in Tilburg when he was eight and they attended school together.
They reconnected in 2011 and spent about four hours together each week, often at Coban’s home at Stille Wille, near Tilburg.
At the time, Gokcimar said he knew Coban to be a computer repairman who advertised his services; he had also fixed Gokcimar and his brother’s computers.
Gokcimar said the friends spent time talking — in Dutch and Turkish — about music, art and philosophy and played video games.
And in November 2013, Gokcimar helped Coban move into the vacation home, he told the court.
Coban had brought his laptop and was planning to purchase a computer for his new place to play video games and make music, he said.
Two weeks before Coban’s arrest, Gokcimar had a New Year’s Eve dinner with his friend at his vacation pad.
The seven-week trial continues.
