A B.C. man who served time in prison for randomly stabbing a tourist in downtown Vancouver four years ago has now been charged with manslaughter in the stabbing of another man last year.
David Richard Morin, 32, has been charged in connection with the death of 54-year-old Michael Smadu.
On Sept. 3, 2025, Vancouver police were called to a home near East 6th Avenue and Fraser Street just before 1 a.m. for a man who had been stabbed.
Despite attempts by first responders to save his life, Smadu died before he could be taken to hospital.
In 2022, Morin randomly stabbed a Mexican tourist inside a downtown Vancouver Tim Hortons.
The victim, a 25-year-old man, was waiting in line at the coffee shop when a man approached from behind and “repeatedly stabbed him” in the back and shoulder before fleeing the store.
Morin pleaded guilty in June 2022 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years in jail.
“This person is the poster child for everything that’s wrong with our criminal justice system,” Vancouver city councillor Peter Meiszner said.
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Morin was released from prison in June 2024 and was rearrested that October after breaching conditions of his statutory release.
Vancouver police issued a public warning when Morin was released due to his “significant risk to the community and his high risk of re-offending.”
In November 2024, police issued another warning about Morin as he was again living in a halfway house in the city.
On Jan. 16, 2025, he was declared unlawfully at large in Vancouver and was sentenced to 20 days in jail that May for escaping lawful custody or being unlawfully at large.
In December, Morin committed a robbery in Surrey and a theft two weeks later.
On March 12, he was sentenced for those crimes, receiving 132 days in jail for robbery, followed by two years’ probation
Morin was arrested while serving that time.
“It’s just outrageous; we need criminal justice reform now,” Meiszner said.
Morin’s criminal history in B.C. dates back to 2012 in Williams Lake.
In 2017, he threatened a woman with a hatchet and sexually assaulted her in Prince George.
Former prosecutor Rob Dhanu said that Crown could seek to have Morin incarcerated indefinitely as a dangerous offender, following any future convictions.
“This is your classic dangerous offender type case… escalating conduct,” he said.
“It’s serious, there’s breaches of court orders and there’s no indication that there’s been an ability to control this behaviour in the past and the question is, can it be controlled in the future.”
Morin was set to be released in the coming days when his robbery sentence expires, but will remain in custody on the manslaughter charge.
He is expected to appear in court on July 3.
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