San Francisco Frontiers - Grief and pain flow at hearing for Canadian suicide poison vendor

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

Law has admitted that he proactively looked for customers, appearing on a suicide discussion forum under a pseudonym, and made fatal substances available for purchase.

"I cannot stop thinking that my little girl will never come back," Maria Lopez, the mother of Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez, who died in 2022 at the age of 18, said in a statement read out Wednesday by prosecutors.

The girl's father Leonardo added: "The future we had imagined as a family disappeared."

Like these parents, dozens of other people who lost loved one to products sold by Law will make statements over the next few days in the courthouse in Newmarket, near Toronto.

Law sold poison to people in at least 41 countries, including China, France and Brazil. He sold 330 packages to people in the United Kingdom, according to an agreed statement of facts signed by the defense and prosecution.

Several impacted families voiced anger that Law would not face trial for murder, arguing he should be held directly responsible for prematurely ending the lives of mostly young, vulnerable people.

Despite dropping the murder charges, prosecutors are still expected to seek a stiff sentence for aiding suicides, possibly as long as 20 years, legal experts have said.

"I'm no longer the same person I was before my brother died. Grief is now part of everything I do," Adrienne Ryan, the sister of Maurizio Vadala, said in court as her voice choked with grief.

A man named Stephen Mitchell spoke of the pain of losing his son Stephen Jr to suicide.

"My son was a depressed, vulnerable, and sometimes immature youth. He was ill and he needed help," Mitchell said. "Mr. Law robbed my son of that chance to be healed."

Judge Michelle Fuerst has allocated four days to hear victim impact statements and other evidence before determining sentencing.

It is not immediately clear when Fuerst will decide on the sentence.

- 'Not a diabolical madman' -

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper published details earlier this month of Law's interviews with a psychiatrist, which were conducted in prison after his guilty plea.

"I was just trying to serve a need that I thought was humane," Law said, according to court documents obtained by the paper.

"I'm not a diabolical madman," Law reportedly further said.

In the court documents, Law recounted that he viewed himself as blameless following his arrest in 2023, insisting that he did not make the final decision to end anyone's life and was just providing a product, the Globe reported.

Law, who is in his 60s, worked as a chef at a luxury hotel in downtown Toronto before launching his online suicide forums during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has admitted to shipping material containing lethal concentrations of the meat preservative sodium nitrite across Canada and abroad, often for about $80.

Leonardo Bedoya told reporters outside the court in May that he found his daughter dead in her bedroom. He called the decision by prosecutors to drop murder charges "a disgrace."

"She was my only daughter, my light, my life," Bedoya said.

S.Jackson--SFF