Kenneth Law’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin in an Ontario courtroom on Wednesday, four months after he pleaded guilty to aiding in the suicides of 14 people in Canada and admitted to playing a role in dozens more deaths abroad.
asserted
he → schedule → deaths
Mr. Law, 61, operated an online business selling a toxic salt and other deadly paraphernalia to vulnerable people.
asserted
Law → operate → people
A court heard earlier this year that he told clients he had engineered painless suicide methods.
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he → hear → methods
Authorities said he shipped about 1,200 parcels globally to vulnerable young people he met in online suicide forums.
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he → say → forums
The former engineer admitted he manufactured kits, which he sold for as little as $80 apiece between 2021 and 2023, earning around $300,000.
asserted
he → admit → 300,000
Mr. Law was arrested in 2023 and charged with 14 counts of aiding suicide and first-degree murder.
asserted
Law → arrest → suicide
This spring, he pleaded guilty to the aiding suicide counts as the Crown stayed the murder charges.
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Crown → plead → charges
His victims in Ontario included two 16-year-olds, and court also heard that he admitted a role in the deaths of another 79 people in Britain.
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he → include → Britain
The hearing is scheduled to run for several days as the families of victims from Canada and Britain provide victim-impact statements.
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families → schedule → statements
The Mitchell family, Toronto
Stephen Mitchell Jr. died about a month before Mr. Law was arrested.
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Law → die → ?
He suffered from depression and had stopped taking his medication.
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He → suffer → medication
He paid US$87.17 via PayPal for a package of poison from Mr. Law and was found dead by his brother on March 25, 2023.
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He → pay → March
His father, Stephen Mitchell Sr., said his son’s death was preventable, and he plans to make that point when he gives his victim-impact statement.
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he → say → statement
“I do intend on calling for a formal inquiry,” he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
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he → intend → Globe
He said it is unconscionable that Mr. Law was able to sell poison for years before authorities moved to stop him.
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authorities → say → him
And he said his son might still be alive today if police had acted earlier, given he was among the last of the known Canadian victims.
uncertain
he → say → victims
“What I do know is that this day should have happened much, much sooner,” Stephen Sr. told reporters as Mr. Law pleaded guilty in May.
uncertain
Law → know → May
The Prosser family, Thunder Bay
Kim Prosser has struggled to write the statement she plans to read in court.
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she → struggle → court
“It still impacts me greatly – the sadness and the grief that all of this has brought up is intense,” she said in an interview.
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she → impact → interview
“It doesn’t just go away.”
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It → go → ?
Her son, Ashtyn Prosser-Blake, was a 19-year-old honour roll student who also killed himself about a month before Mr. Law’s arrest.
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who → kill → arrest
He had paid US$80.84 for toxic salts and was found dead in Thunder Bay.
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He → pay → Bay
According to the agreed facts in the case, he was found in his grandparents’ home.
uncertain
he → accord → home
When his grandmother went to check that the doors to the home were locked for the night, she found a journal at the top of the stairs that read, “Goodbye.”
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that → go → stairs
She went downstairs and found her grandson.
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She → go → grandson
Ms. Prosser said she hopes to use her statement to remember her son, and also to sound a note of healing and forgiveness.
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she → say → healing
She said that Mr. Law’s admissions this spring spared her and other families from sitting through a wrenching trial.
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admissions → say → trial
“He’s coming from hurt and trauma, too,” she said.
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she → come → hurt
The Bedoya-Lopez family, Aurora, Ont.
Maria Lopez plans to tell the court via a translator about the immense loss of her lone child, a teenager who was also her best friend and confidante.
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who → plan → child
She knows victims cannot recommend sentences, but she said she still believes Mr. Law deserves life in prison for murder.
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Law → know → murder
“It isn’t right to mess with people’s minds when they could actually be helped,” Ms. Lopez said in an interview last week.
uncertain
Lopez → mess → interview
Her 18-year-old daughter, Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez, was found dead in their family home in Aurora on Sept. 10, 2022, after paying Mr. Law US$81.48 for a lethal packet of his toxic salt.
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daughter → find → salt
The past four years have been incredibly difficult for Ms. Lopez and her husband, who are refugees from Colombia awaiting a decision on their immigration status.
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who → await → status
The couple have worked nights as cleaners in different cities to make ends meet while trying to make sense of their loss.
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ends → work → loss
“All that’s left for us is to look back on memories and cry,” Ms. Lopez said.
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Lopez → leave → memories
She added that if her daughter were alive today, she would be living out her dream of becoming a police officer and owning a small dog.
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she → add → dog
The Nunn family, West Sussex, England
Speaking from England, Louise Nunn said she struggled to write a succinct statement for the Canadian court summarizing everything her 25-year-old daughter meant to her.
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daughter → speak → her
One problem was that she knew that Mr. Law would be listening.
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Law → know → ?
“I didn’t write a great deal,” she said in an interview.
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she → write → interview
“I didn’t want him to know too much, to get off from the pain and the devastation.”
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him → want → pain
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
