Warning: Some readers may find details disturbing.
A man who died as a result of a fatal stabbing in Vancouver’s Chinatown had two neck lacerations and had lost a significant amount of blood, a B.C. Supreme Court jury heard April 30.
The second-degree murder trial of Jaal Routh Kueth began in Vancouver April 29 and is expected to last 40 days before Justice Wendy Baker and a seven-man, five-woman jury.
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) said Nikolai Sugak, 32, was found gravely injured near West Pender and Carrall streets shortly after midnight on Feb. 6, 2023.
Despite receiving emergency medical attention, Sugak died shortly after he was found.
VPD Sgt. Desmond Roberts was among the first on the scene, after a 911 call came from an Uber driver at the request of someone standing near Sugak on Pender Street.
“It was evident there was a large amount of blood and he was in dire need of medical assistance,” Roberts testified under questioning from Crown prosecutor Jenny Dyck. “Given the amount of blood, definitely something terrible had happened.”
The officer said he checked the man’s wrist and neck for a pulse and found none. Paramedics soon arrived and started chest compressions.
He said the man had “large lacerations on either side of his neck.”
Paramedic Tanya Hisch attended to Sugak at the scene.
“The injuries were unsurvivable,” she said. “The patient didn’t have a pulse.”
Hisch said the amount of blood at the scene led paramedics to believe most of Sugak’s blood was outside his body.
“There was blood everywhere so you didn’t really know where the injuries were,” she said.
In the lit conditions of the ambulance, Hisch said she could see lacerations of about four inches on one side of the neck and six on the other.
She said the carotid arteries and jugular veins had been severed and the trachea cut in half.
Roberts said there was a trail of blood from Shanghai Alley, near the Chinatown Gate.
Indeed, police believed Sugak was stabbed in nearby Shanghai Alley before collapsing into the street. The death led to a five-week investigation.
Kueth first appeared on the charge in Vancouver Provincial Court on March 17, 2023 before Judge Jennifer Oulton.
He was ordered detained "due to the nature of the charge."
VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said the violent offence caused significant concern about crime and public safety in the neighbourhood.
