A BC man who served time in prison for the random stabbing of 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 September 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 the efforts of first responders to save his life, Smadu died before he could be taken to hospital.
In 2022, Morin accidentally hit a Mexican tourist inside a downtown Vancouver Tim Hortons.
The victim, a 25-year-old man, was waiting in line at the cafe when a man approached him from behind and “struck him repeatedly” in the back and shoulder before leaving the store.
Morin pleaded guilty in June 2022 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years in prison.
“This person is the poster child for everything that is wrong with our criminal justice system,” said Vancouver City Councilor Peter Meiszner.
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Morin was released from prison in June 2024 and arrested again in October after violating the conditions of his legal release.
Vancouver Shelves issued a public warning when Morin was released because of his “substantial danger to the community and his high risk of re-offending”.
In November 2024, police issued another warning for Mori after he was again living in a halfway house in the city.
On January 16, 2025, he was declared unlawfully at large in Vancouver and sentenced to 20 days in jail that May for escaping from lawful custody or being unlawfully at liberty.
In December, Morin carried out a robbery in Surrey and a burglary two weeks later.
On March 12, he was convicted of these crimes, receiving 132 days in jail for robbery, followed by two years of probation.
Morin was arrested while serving his sentence at the time.
“It’s just outrageous; we need criminal justice reform now,” Meiszner said.
Morin’s criminal history in BC dates back to 2012 in Williams Lake.
In 2017, he threatened a woman with slippers and sexually assaulted her in Prince George.
Former prosecutor Rob Dhanu said the Crown could seek to have Morin jailed indefinitely as a dangerous offender after any future convictions.
“This is your classic dangerous offender-type case … escalating behavior,” he said.
“It is serious, there are breaches of court orders and there is no indication that there has been an ability to control this behavior in the past and the question is, can it be controlled in the future.”
Morin was scheduled 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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