San Francisco Frontiers - Canadian poison seller pleads guilty to aiding suicides

Since Kenneth Law's arrest in 2023, details of the online forums where he advised distressed people on how to end their lives have caused public outrage and triggered investigations in several countries.

In Canada, Law faced 14 murder charges and an additional 14 charges for aiding suicide.

At a court in Newmarket, north of Toronto, prosecutors said they did not believe they had viable path towards a murder conviction.

Law then stood in a semi-enclosed area reserved for defendants, flanked by his three defence 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.

The 60-year-old former chef admitted in an "agreed statement of facts" to shipping parcels to hundreds of people in a range of countries, including Australia, France, Belgium and Britain.

News that he will not stand trial for murder in Canada came as a disappointment to some families.

David Parfett's son Thomas was 22 when he ended his life in 2021 with materials allegedly supplied by Law -- one of scores of British suicides allegedly linked to his online forums.

Now an advocate for more rigorous legislation to confront online spaces that guide people toward harm, Parfett told AFP that Canadian authorities were missing an opportunity to establish the gravity of Law's conduct.

- 'Angry' -

"If (Law) hadn't been offering detailed instructions about how to take your own life, then the chances are my son would still be here. So again, for me, it's murder," Parfett said.

Meanwhile, bereaved families in Britain revealed Friday that UK prosecutors had informed them that nobody will face criminal charges there over the deaths.

A joint statement by Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) and its prosecution service said "the UK is the only country globally with an investigation detailed enough to be included in the Canadian prosecution."

The NCA separately confirmed it was investigating 112 deaths in Britain linked to Law.

The joint statement noted the agencies had "explained our decision making in detail to the victims and their families."

Parfett said in a statement: "I am angry, but I am not surprised."

He reiterated the families' rebuffed calls for a UK public inquiry. "If our own country will not put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it can do is hold a proper inquiry into how they were allowed to happen."

- 'Healing' -

Kim Prosser's son Ashtyn took his own life in 2023, weeks before Law's arrest. Law pleaded guilty Friday to aiding Ashtyn's suicide.

Prosser told AFP she would attend Friday's hearing and spoke of the painful three years since her son's death on March 30, 2023.

"To be at the courthouse on Friday and to sit there... it's a beginning to another chapter of this process of healing," she said.

A key issue facing prosecutors was whether the same alleged conduct could amount to both counselling suicide and murder.

Dalhousie University law professor Robert Currie told AFP that Law's prosecutors were closely watching a separate case before the Supreme Court, hoping Canada's top judges would offer clarity on the issue.

But the Supreme Court left that question unanswered, and prosecutors doubted they could secure murder convictions against Law, Currie said.

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K.Torres--SFF