NEWMARKET, Canada: The Canadian man who sold packages of poison to distressed people in dozens of countries pleaded guilty on Friday to 14 counts of aiding suicide, but prosecutors said he will not face murder charges.
Kenneth Law, a 60-year-old former chef, ran online forums that offered people advice on how to end their lives and made fatal substances available for purchase.
The details of Law´s online operation have caused widespread outrage since his arrest in 2023.
The list of 41 countries where Law sent poison included Australia, China, France and Brazil. He sold 330 packages to people in the United Kingdom.
Canadian prosecutors had charged him with 14 counts of murder and 14 counts of aiding suicide.
At a court in Newmarket, north of Toronto, prosecutors said they did not believe they had a viable path towards murder convictions.
Law stood in a semi-enclosed area reserved for defendants, flanked by his three defense lawyers, and said “I plead guilty” to aiding the suicide of 14 people in Canada.
Sentencing will be determined at a separate hearing, likely in September, when the court will hear victim impact statements.
Legal experts note that aiding suicide is a serious crime and Law could receive a sentence of 10 to 20 years´ imprisonment.
After the guilty pleas were entered, prosecutors began reading an “agreed statement of facts,” a roughly 60-page document that detailed how Law shipped material for suicide across Canada and abroad, often for about $80.
