PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "His lawyer made a brief court appearance on Friday and said the trial is set to start in September 2025. He has said his client intends to plead not guilty. The impact of Law’s alleged crimes is staggering – police accuse him of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries. Media reports have linked him to more than 100 deaths across three continents. “This is an unusual case because of its scale, but there’s not going to be any less cybercrime in the future,” said Robert Currie, an expert in international and transnational criminal law at Dalhousie University. “There’s only going to be more because our lives are much more cyber enabled, people are much more mobile, and the criminal law and the police … are often playing catch up.”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Experts have described the case as unprecedented, not only because of its global reach, but also because of its novel nature. It’s not known if Law ever physically met any of his alleged victims, who are people who reportedly expressed an interest in dying. And it’s believed they ultimately consumed the lethal substance of their own volition. Furthermore, the substance Law is accused of shipping is unrestricted in the criminal code. Some lawmakers are calling for that to change. Ingrid Grant, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto, said the case is in “uncharted waters.” To secure a first-degree murder conviction, the Crown will have to prove that Law specifically intended for his victims to die and that his actions were planned and deliberate."
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STORY: "Uncharted waters’: He’s been linked to deaths around the world. Why legal, cybercrime experts will be watching Kenneth Law’s Canadian murder trial," by Staff Reporter Omar Mosleh, published by The Toronto Star, on September 20, 2024.
SUB-HEADING" "Kenneth Law, of Mississauga, is accused of selling products used for self-harm through online stores he personally operated."
VIDEO CAPTION: "Kenneth Law is seen in a video taken at the Royal Fairmont Hotel, where he was employed as a cook before he was arrested. The 58-year-old Mississauga man is accused of sending products used for self-harm to vulnerable people around the world. "
GIST: "The case of a Canadian man accused of shipping suicide kits across Ontario and around the world is unique in several ways, experts say, but also highlights the challenges in prosecuting cybercrimes that touch lives globally.
Kenneth Law, of Mississauga, is accused of selling products used for self-harm through online stores he personally operated. He faces 14 counts of first-degree murder and is accused of aiding or abetting 14 people to die by suicide.
His lawyer made a brief court appearance on Friday and said the trial is set to start in September 2025. He has said his client intends to plead not guilty.
The impact of Law’s alleged crimes is staggering – police accuse him of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries. Media reports have linked him to more than 100 deaths across three continents.
“This is an unusual case because of its scale, but there’s not going to be any less cybercrime in the future,” said Robert Currie, an expert in international and transnational criminal law at Dalhousie University.
“There’s only going to be more because our lives are much more cyber enabled, people are much more mobile, and the criminal law and the police … are often playing catch up.”
The trial will undoubtedly be watched closely by people across the globe. The Star has spoken to parents in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as here in Canada, who believe Law played a direct role in supplying the substance their loved ones used to end their lives.
The charges Law faces here are connected only to Canadian victims and have not been tested in court.
In a statement, the National Crime Agency in the U.K. said they’re investigating a Canadian suspect in connection to 96 deaths of people who purchased items to assist with suicide from Canadian websites. They have identified at least 272 people who purchased them over a two-year period.
David Parfett, whose son Tom died by suicide in October 2021 in the U.K., hopes to see charges in his country move forward. Among the evidence British authorities gathered from the investigation into his son’s death was a package branded with one of Law’s alleged businesses.
“This is an international problem that needs cooperation between regulators and law-enforcement authorities worldwide. The prosecution of Law in Ontario and in the U.K. … will be a start, but needs to be in parallel with the prevention of further deaths,” he said.
CBC News has reported that authorities in France, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Switzerland have also confirmed that Law sent packages to individuals in those countries.
At this point, it’s unclear how the international investigations will be handled, or if Law will face charges in other countries.
Experts have described the case as unprecedented, not only because of its global reach, but also because of its novel nature. It’s not known if Law ever physically met any of his alleged victims, who are people who reportedly expressed an interest in dying. And it’s believed they ultimately consumed the lethal substance of their own volition.
Furthermore, the substance Law is accused of shipping is unrestricted in the criminal code. Some lawmakers are calling for that to change.
Ingrid Grant, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto, said the case is in “uncharted waters.” To secure a first-degree murder conviction, the Crown will have to prove that Law specifically intended for his victims to die and that his actions were planned and deliberate.
She said based on what is known, it seems there was some planning, as sending a package in the mail requires time and effort.
“But is that enough to say that he acted with intention to kill? As opposed to just indifference as to whether people did something dangerous,” she said.
“Morally speaking, it may be the same or similar. But legally speaking, it’s not.”
She said she expects the defence to argue the alleged victims consumed the substance of their own free will. The outcome will depend on the evidence police have – such as if there’s online communications that show Law actively encouraged people to die by suicide, which could point to intention.
“It’s possible, I don’t think anyone’s tried that argument before. It’s not a test that was made for this scenario … it’s going to be a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
Currie said while the sheer scale of the accusations are unusual, there are other cases that share similarities. It’s not uncommon for poisons to be sent to other countries, for example powders used in assassinations, and it wouldn’t be the first case of a person being counseled to die by suicide across borders.
Currie referenced a case from about 10 years ago where a former American nurse was tried and convicted in the U.S. of encouraging an 18-year-old Ottawa student, Nadia Kajouji, to die by suicide. The charge was later overturned.
Extraditions for cybercrimes that cut across different jurisdictions are not uncommon, for example, in the recent case of Aydin Coban, a Dutch man who was extradited to Canada to face charges of extortion and harassment for blackmailing B.C. teenager Amanda Todd, eventually causing her to end her own life. After being convicted in B.C., he was sent back to the Netherlands to serve his sentence, although his sentence was reduced there.
But Currie noted that both of those cases involved cooperation between two countries – he said he couldn’t think of one where a person is being investigated for crimes in half a dozen countries or more.
“The potential for him to be tried and convicted, potentially, in this many countries … I can’t think of a case where it’s happened,” he said. “We’re really on new ground.”
It’s entirely possible that other countries could prosecute Law, even if he committed the alleged crimes from Canada, because the physical impacts are felt elsewhere, Currie said. But the charges in Canada would take priority, he added.
If he were convicted in Canada, he could be extradited to face trial in other countries, but a likely condition would be that he come back to serve his time in Canada first, Currie said. If he’s acquitted, he may still be extradited based what kind of evidence the requesting state has.
If a similar crime affects victims across multiple jurisdictions, countries need to cooperate to determine where a person would be charged in order avoid what’s known as “double jeopardy”, which is where a person is prosecuted in multiple jurisdictions for essentially the same conduct, Currie said.
He said as the internet enables more people’s crimes to have far-reaching consequences, governments need to develop stronger policies to hold them to account.
“This is just a harbinger in some ways, of other kinds of cases that we might very well see,” he said. “Because it’s so easy to do something from a computer in your basement and have an impact in numerous countries."
The entire story can be read at:
