OTTAWA, Canada – A man in Canada is accused of mailing poison to more than a dozen young people across the province of Ontario to help them kill themselves. As a result, he’s now facing 14 counts of second degree murder, police said on Tuesday.
Kenneth Law, 58, has been identified as a mass suicide facilitator. Investigation revealed he reportedly shipped about 160 packages of sodium nitrite to people in Canada and also sent at least 1,200 packages to addresses in more than 40 countries, according to law enforcement authorities, Reuters reported.
“It’s clearly significant … to be laying this many (charges) and that’s not taken lightly by the investigative team,” Inspector Simon James of the police force in York, a northern district of Toronto, said during a televised press conference.
The victims were not identified by name, but James said they ranged in age from 16 to 36. Law was previously charged with 14 counts of counseling or aiding suicide, but the charges were upgraded to second degree murder without further explanation.
However, it’s an investigative presumption by experts that charges were upgraded once the cause and manner of death of each victim was directly linked to a lethal substance distributed by Law.
James said he did not know how many people in other countries may have died as a result of Law’s actions.
“We continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies and collaborate with them globally,” he confirmed.
Law could possibly be linked to 117 deaths worldwide, most of them in Britain, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., citing official records and statements.
Moreover, CBC said officials in New Zealand, France, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Switzerland all confirmed Law shipped packages to their countries while using several websites to reach his victims.
“One of the challenges that we face are a number of these sites are located in other countries where Canadian law does not apply,” James noted.
Law remains jailed and will next appear in court on Dec. 19, reported Reuters.
If he is found guilty, Law will go down as one of the worst mass murderers in Canadian history.
