UK Survivor Describes Exploitation by Canadian Poison Seller at Sentencing

A survivor from the United Kingdom has told a Canadian court that a man convicted of selling poison online exploited her despair, during a sentencing hearing for Kenneth Law, according to the BBC.

Elisabeth Belien said she took the poison Law sold when she was 23 years old, describing to the hearing how his actions had preyed on people going through severe personal distress.

Law has been at the center of a case examining the sale of lethal substances through online channels to vulnerable individuals, with the sentencing hearing providing survivors and family members of victims an opportunity to address the court directly.

Testimony from survivors such as Belien is being used in the proceedings to illustrate the human impact of Law’s activities, beyond the specific criminal charges he faces.

The case has drawn attention in both Canada and the United Kingdom to the dangers posed by the online sale of poisons and other lethal substances to people experiencing mental health crises, and to the difficulties authorities face in policing such sales.

Further details of the sentencing outcome were not available at the time of this report.