Kenneth Law families tell court of suicide poison loss

Relatives of people who died after using poison sold by Canadian Kenneth Law gave victim impact statements in a Newmarket, Ontario, court Wednesday before a judge decides his prison term.

Law pleaded guilty in May to aiding the suicide of 14 people in Canada. Prosecutors dropped murder charges after determining they lacked evidence to convict him of murder over online forums where he advised people on how to end their lives.

Law has admitted that he proactively looked for customers, used a pseudonym on a suicide discussion forum and made fatal substances available for purchase. He has also admitted shipping material containing lethal concentrations of sodium nitrite across Canada and abroad.

An agreed statement of facts signed by the defence and prosecution said Law sold poison to people in at least 41 countries, including China, France and Brazil. It said he sold 330 packages to people in the United Kingdom. Canadian prosecutors said 79 deaths in Britain are linked to him.

Maria Lopez, the mother of Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez, who died in 2022 at age 18, said in a statement read by prosecutors: “I cannot stop thinking that my little girl will never come back.” Jeshennia’s father, Leonardo Bedoya, said: “The future we had imagined as a family disappeared.”

Outside court, Bedoya said Law should be treated as “a serial killer” and accused him of showing no remorse.

Maurizio Vadala’s sister told the court: “I'm no longer the same person I was before my brother died. Grief is now part of everything I do.” The father of Ashleigh Harris, who died in Britain in 2023 at age 26, also spoke to the Canadian court.

Several families have criticised the decision not to put Law on trial for murder. Legal experts have said prosecutors are expected to seek a long sentence for aiding suicides, possibly as long as 20 years.

Judge Michelle Fuerst has allocated four days to hear victim impact statements and other evidence. It was not immediately clear when she would impose the sentence.

The Globe and Mail reported that court documents from Law’s prison interviews with a psychiatrist quoted him as saying he thought he was serving a humane need and was “not a diabolical madman.” The newspaper reported that Law said he initially viewed himself as blameless after his 2023 arrest because he did not make the final decision for anyone to end their life.