Suicide drug dealer ‘stole futures of those struggling with mental illness’

A Canadian man who assisted multiple suicides has been told that young people with mental health issues need hope not hastening to their deaths.

Operating through suicide forums, Kenneth Law sent approximately 1,200 packages to individuals in 40 countries. The 64-year-old has pleaded guilty to assisting 14 suicides in Canada and admitted responsibility for 79 deaths in Great Britain.

During his sentencing hearing, which is expected to resume in November, Law heard victim impact statements on how he had helped to end the lives of vulnerable people with curable problems.

Survivor

Elisabeth Belien, who lives in the UK, bought lethal substances from Law but managed to fully recover following medical intervention.

Belien, who was 23 at the time, said: “I had struggled with my mental health for a long time before this. Kenneth Law made it a lot easier to act on that despair.”

“I’m learning that things can get better. I’m learning to be excited to see what the future holds for me. But the gratitude I’m feeling for being alive today doesn’t take away from the trauma of the experience.”

Value of life

Stephen Mitchell’s son killed himself aged 21 after suffering from depression.

Addressing Law directly, he said: “I’m willing to accept that during Mr Law’s time in incarceration, he might have had brief moments of regret, or even despair and helplessness. Perhaps he may have even thought during those moments: my life is meaningless, what is the point of living.

“That was the same thoughts that my son Stephen had before he took the chemicals that Mr Law sold him. When my son was well, he would have gladly helped Mr Law work out his depressive thoughts, if asked, because he believed in the value of people.”

14 years old

The parents of a 14-year-old autistic boy explained that he had a treatable neurological condition.

Kate and Henry Tucker said: “The realisation that his suffering and his death could have been prevented is a weight that is impossible to bear”.

Greg Bryson, whose 34-year-old son Tyler died, told the court: “Mr Law took from us something that we can never retrieve. Mr Law gave Tyler and countless other people around the world at the lowest point in their lives an option that stole from us the opportunity to sit down and address his mental illness.”