Warning: This story deals with suicide, a sensitive issue that some readers may find upsetting. Please read at your own discretion.
An Ontario court is hearing from more friends and family members of people who took their own lives using products purchased from Kenneth Law.
Relatives of some of the 79 people in the United Kingdom whose deaths have been linked to Law are sharing their devastating grief and emptiness in written statements and videos.
The mother of Faith Ike-Elechi said she is haunted by her daughter’s last words and the pain and fear she saw in the 21-year-old’s eyes in those final moments in 2022.
In a statement read aloud by the Crown, she said there has been no closure with time and participating in an international criminal case has added to the strain, but she owes it to her daughter to make sure her voice is heard.
More than a dozen victim impact statements were presented in court Wednesday, some in person, some read by prosecutors and some by video recording.
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Several said Law preyed on people who were at their most vulnerable, robbing them of their future and leaving countless families grappling with grief.
Adrienne Dalli, whose brother Maurizio Vadala died in 2023, told the court it is “devastating” to know he was guided toward death instead of receiving the support he needed.
Law, a former chef from Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty earlier this year to 14 counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of 14 people in Ontario.
The plea was entered weeks after he was set to stand trial on the charges and another 14 counts of first-degree murder related to the same victims.
Prosecutors have said they plan to withdraw the murder charges after Law is sentenced.
An agreed statement of fact read in court in May said Law ran several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other products that can be used for self-harm.
He sent some 1,200 packages to people in more than 40 countries, including close to 160 packages shipped to addresses within Canada, it said.
Though the charges only relate to the Ontario victims, the U.K. cases are being considered as part of the sentencing process.
The hearing is scheduled to continue over several days.
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