In a grim courtroom drama, British survivor Elisabeth Belien faced Canadian poison seller Kenneth Law during his sentencing hearing in Ontario. The former chef has been accused of selling more than 1,200 packages of toxic substances to people he met on online suicide forums in 40 countries, many of whom were far from safe.
Belien, who was 23 when she accessed a chemical purchased from Law, recounted that the availability of the poison “made it a lot easier to act on that despair.” She emerged from an intensive antidote treatment at the height of her crisis, only to live with flashbacks and survivor’s guilt that she describes as lasting beyond her physical recovery.
She testified that she was “at her lowest ebb” at the time of the sale and that buying the poison in the opaque digital marketplace enabled Law to expand his operation. She added that her survival was a painful reminder of the many others who lost their lives because of the same products.
Authorities said Law’s arrest in May 2023 involved an international network of 11 law‑enforcement agencies, with investigations spanning the UK, Italy, the US and other nations. As part of a plea deal, the Canadian court has agreed to omit any charges in the UK, but still allows families to present their impact statements during sentencing.
The hearing featured harrowing testimonies from several families, including the parents of Henry Tucker, 14‑year‑old who died in October 2021, and the father of Stephen Mitchell Jr., who also succumbed after buying chemicals from Law. Their statements underscored the preventable nature of these deaths and the necessity of therapeutic support ahead of official court proceedings.
