A Canadian man accused of selling sodium nitrite and suicide-related items online to people in multiple countries pleaded guilty on 29 May to aiding the suicides of 14 people in Ontario, after prosecutors said recent legal rulings made murder charges impossible to pursue.
Kenneth Law, 60, entered guilty pleas at the Ontario Superior Court in Newmarket, north of Toronto. Prosecutors said he operated websites selling sodium nitrite (a chemical used in food preservation that can be deadly in high concentrations) along with masks, hoods and regulators.
Court documents stated that Law shipped 1,209 packages to customers in 41 countries between 2021 and 2023, including hundreds to Britain, the United States and Canada.
According to an agreed statement of facts presented in court, 79 people in Britain died after consuming or using products sold by Law. Authorities in several countries have launched investigations and welfare checks connected to purchases from his websites.
Family members of victims became emotional in court as prosecutors described the deaths of young people aged between 16 and 36.
Financial records presented in court showed more than $214,000 flowed into accounts connected to Law’s businesses between 2020 and 2023.
Prosecutors said they would seek to withdraw 14 first-degree murder charges after sentencing, citing a 2024 Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that narrowed how murder causation is interpreted in cases where victims perform the final act leading to death.
Law has remained in custody since his arrest in May 2023. He faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for counselling or aiding suicide under Canadian law.
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