Relatives of people who committed suicide using poison sold by a Canadian man gave wrenching accounts of pain and loss in court Wednesday before a judge tasked with deciding the former chef's prison term.
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 Bedoya, added: "The future we had imagined as a family disappeared."
Like these heartbroken parents, dozens of other people who lost loved ones 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. There, 79 deaths are linked to him, according to Canadian prosecutors.
Several impacted families have 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.
"This man, Kenneth Law, should be treated for what he is: a serial killer. Because in there, in the courtroom, he doesn't show any remorse at all," Bedoya told reporters outside the courthouse.
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 Dalli, the sister of Maurizio Vadala, said in court as her voice choked with grief.
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.
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.
In Britain the deaths linked to Law include that of Ashleigh Harris, who died in 2023 at age 26. Her father Norson Harris traveled from Britain to speak to the Canadian court on Wednesday.
"The impact of Ashley's death has been profound," Norris said. "There was a before and then there is an after, where we have gained membership to a club that nobody wants to be part of."