Canadian judge to hear families’ statements before sentencing poison seller

Relatives of people who died after using poison sold by Canadian Kenneth Law are due to give impact statements before a judge decides his prison sentence. Law pleaded guilty in May to aiding the suicides of 14 people in Canada. Prosecutors concluded that they lacked sufficient evidence to secure murder convictions over online forums where Law advised people about ending their lives.

He admitted proactively seeking customers, using a pseudonym on a suicide discussion forum and making lethal substances available for purchase. The agreed statement of facts says he sold poison to people in at least 41 countries, including China, France and Brazil, and sent 330 packages to customers in the United Kingdom. Judge Michelle Fuerst has set aside four days at a court in Newmarket, north of Toronto, for victim impact statements and other evidence.

The date on which she will impose sentence was not immediately clear. Legal experts cited in the source said prosecutors could seek up to 20 years for aiding suicide. Families have criticised the decision to abandon the murder charges.

Leonardo Bedoya, whose 18-year-old daughter Jeshennia died in 2022, described the decision as a disgrace. Law, a former luxury-hotel chef, sold packages containing sodium nitrite, a meat preservative that can be lethal in high concentrations. In prison interviews reported by the Globe and Mail, he said he believed he was meeting a humane need and did not regard himself as responsible for the final decision made by those who purchased the substance.