The man charged with a random attack that led to the death of a stranger in Vancouver’s Chinatown began this week.
Jaal Routh Kueth’s charges stem from events that occurred near West Pender and Carrall streets shortly after midnight on February 6, 2023.
Officials from the Vancouver Police Department said Nikolai Sugak, 32, was found “gravely injured” after being allegedly stabbed to death by Kueth just outside Shanghai Alley—a few blocks removed from Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district and the downtown eastside.
At the time of the alleged offence, the VPD said there was no evidence the alleged attacker and victim knew each other. True North has reported on several other alleged “stranger attacks” in the same area of Vancouver in recent months.
The death of Sugak, in particular, prompted grave concerns regarding crime and public safety in the community, said VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin.
“Police believe Sugak was stabbed by a stranger in nearby Shanghai alley before walking out into the street and collapsing,” Visintin said, “We have no evidence that the victim and his attacker knew each other or had any prior interactions before the murder. We believe they were strangers.”
First responders to the incident in 2023 have described a harrowing scene while testifying in the trial, with one saying there was a trail of blood from Shanghai Alley to near the Chinatown Gate — which would constitute several city blocks.
Additionally, court records Kueth had a rap sheet of similar incidents before the alleged attack on Sugak, including a strikingly similar alleged knife attack only hours earlier on the same day on another individual, which left them with a severed finger.
Additional court records show Kueth already had a lengthy criminal history with convictions for assaults with a weapon, possession of controlled substances, break and enters, possession for the purpose of trafficking, theft under $5,000, breaches of probation and court undertakings and possession of break-in implements.
The second-degree murder trial is expected to last 40 days and is taking place before Justice Wendy Baker, along with a seven-man, five-woman jury after Kueth submitted a “not guilty” plea.