Amanda Todd was a 15-year-old Vancouver teenager who took her life on October 10, 2012 as a result of cyberbullying. Before her suicide, she left a heartbreaking video on Youtube describing her years of harassment using a series of index cards.
Her nightmare started when, in an online chatroom, she met a stranger who convinced her to flash her chest, and sent the captured photo to several people. This incident led her to be ostracized by her peers, and she fell into severe mental anguish. She struggled with loneliness, depression and panic disorders, and resorted to alcohol, drugs and cutting her wrists to deal with her pains. She eventually attempted suicide by drinking bleach, but her father found her quickly enough for her to be saved. More torments followed, and she took her life after few months.
While Amanda Todd’s case was making headlines back in 2012, Anonymous became involved and traced the tormentor through the internet. The police investigated, but reached a dead end with the man’s denial.
Now, new leads surfaced with recent reports that her cyberbully has been found, a 35-year-old Dutch male who was arrested in January for indecent assault and child pornography. After the connection between the man and Amanda Todd emerged on Dutch television, Christian van Dijk, the man’s lawyer, confirmed it with Associated Press.
The Dutch man faces a total of nine charges, one of which is “suspected extortion via webcam of a 15-year-old girl from British Columbia.” The Canadian police said they would seek extradition, but before he could be extradited, he must first go trough the Dutch legal process.
However, the lawyer believes that prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to convict his client, and the evidence of unlawful activity on the computer may have been hacked. “Prosecutors seem to think they have a big fish here, but if I see the evidence, it’s not much,” he said. “Lots of references to IP addresses and such.”
Hopefully, the authorities have finally found the real culprit, and can give the Todd family closure to this tragic case.
If you would like to watch her video plea, here is her Youtube video titled “Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc
