{"id":66659,"date":"2026-05-29T20:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/66659\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:10:11","slug":"canadian-man-pleads-guilty-to-selling-lethal-substances-to-people-who-killed-themselves-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/66659\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian man pleads guilty to selling lethal substances to people who killed themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

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York Regional Police Inspector Simon James speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., Aug. 29, 2023, with the image of Kenneth Law, a Canadian man accused of selling lethal substances on the internet to people at risk of self harm, displayed on screen. (Arlyn McAdorey\/The Canadian Press via AP, File)<\/p>\n

NEWMARKET, Ontario (AP) \u2014 A Canadian man accused of selling lethal products across 40 countries to hundreds of people\u00a0who bought them to end their own lives\u00a0pleaded guilty Friday to 14 counts of counseling or aiding suicide.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Law,\u00a0dressed in a dark blazer and white shirt, stood in the prisoner\u2019s box of a Newmarket, Ontario court to enter his guilty pleas. Under the terms of the agreement, Canadian prosecutors will withdraw 14 murder charges against him. Sentencing is scheduled for September.<\/p>\n

In the courtroom gallery, family members of the victims dabbed away tears as a prosecutor detailed the final moments of almost 100 people who died after using the lethal products purchased from Law.<\/p>\n

Police in Canada and around the world have been investigating more than 100 suicides linked to Law. The charges against him in the Canadian court are related to 14 people across Ontario who were between the ages of 16 and 36.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 This story includes discussion of suicide. The U.S. suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at\u00a0988lifeline.org. In the U.K., the Samaritans can be reached at 116 123 or\u00a0www.samaritans.org.<\/p>\n

Canadian police said Law, 60, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.<\/p>\n

Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries, with about 160 of those allegedly sent to addresses in Canada, police said. He has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ontario, home in May 2023.<\/p>\n

UK victims will be taken into account at sentencing
Prosecutors in the U.K. decided not to charge Law or apply for his extradition despite\u00a0investigating him over 112 deaths. The decision comes in part because British authorities believe he would be able to challenge a U.K. prosecution under \u201cdouble jeopardy\u201d laws that prevent a suspect being tried twice for the same crime.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s proceedings, a Canadian prosecutor described the final moments of those who died using Law\u2019s products, detailing cases from both the 14 victims in Canada and dozens of others in the U.K.<\/p>\n

British prosecutors say 79 U.K. victims who died as a direct result of purchasing Law\u2019s products will be taken into account by the Canadian judge when deciding on a sentence.<\/p>\n

The Canadian prosecutor on Friday provided the court with an Agreed Statement of Facts documenting the impact of Law\u2019s crimes on U.K. victims. This revealed that 73 people died in England and Wales, five in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland as a result of using products he supplied to them. It also documents that Law sent 330 packages to the U.K. via Canada Post.<\/p>\n

In the U.K., David Parfett, whose 22-year-old son Thomas Parfett took his own life in 2022 after receiving a package from Law, said the British government is \u201cfailing in its duty to protect life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had wanted Law to face charges in the U.K. \u2026 He really needed to face justice over here,\u201d Parfett told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Kim Prosser of Ontario said her 19-year-old son, Ashtyn, began struggling with his mental health during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. He died by suicide in 2023 after using a product purchased from Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing his name read in there is tough,\u201d Prosser. said Friday. \u201cSeeing his name next to the word deceased has always been the most challenging to grasp.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 29-year-old Toronto man called 911 himself after ingesting a chemical he\u2019d bought from Law, pleading for medical help, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe repeatedly said, \u2018please,\u2019 and \u2018I am going to die soon,\u2019 and then began crying,\u201d Prosecutor Cindy Nadler said. By the time paramedics got there, he was unresponsive and struggling to breathe, she said. He later died in a hospital.<\/p>\n

Suicide and Canadian law
Authorities in the United States, Italy, Australia and\u00a0New Zealand\u00a0also have conducted investigations. A Canadian prosecutor said 431 packages were sent to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Those found guilty of aiding suicide in Canada can face up to 14 years in prison, while first-degree murder carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.<\/p>\n

A New Zealand coroner found that four people who died by suicide there had ordered items online from a business associated with Law, but noted that Law\u2019s activities are outside the jurisdiction of New Zealand courts.<\/p>\n

It is against Canadian law to recommend suicide, although\u00a0assisted suicide\u00a0has been legal since 2016 for people 18 and older. Any adult with a serious illness, disease or disability may seek help in dying, but they must ask for assistance from a physician.<\/p>\n

(Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"York Regional Police Inspector Simon James speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., Aug. 29, 2023, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,28112,28062,28113,14054,94,15735,5045],"class_list":["post-66659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-fatal","tag-guilty","tag-lethal","tag-murder","tag-ontario","tag-substances","tag-suicide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}