Joan and Arnold de Jong in 2022
Three Indian-origin men in Canada have been found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of an elderly couple inside their home in Abbotsford, British Columbia. According to CBC News report, it has been almost four days since this crime took place.BC Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown ruled Friday that Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Toor were all guilty in the deaths of Arnold and Joanne de Jong, who were found dead in their Abbotsford home on May 9, 2022.The judge agreed with prosecutors that the murders were planned in advance and carried out for money.The courtroom was packed with relatives and friends of the de Jong family.Arnold, 77, and Joan de Jong, 76, were found dead in separate bedrooms of their home on Arcadian Way in East Abbotsford. Disturbing details of the murders emerged in court proceedings.Joan was found in a pool of blood on her bed. A pathologist determined that she died from a knife wound to the neck and blunt-force injuries to the head, believed to have been caused by a screwdriver and hammer.Arnold was found in another bedroom with his hands and feet bound. His head and face were tightly wrapped with duct tape. The court heard he died of asphyxiation.All three accused knew the couple before the murder. Abhijeet Singh was the owner of a cleaning company and the other two men worked for him. The business had worked on the De Jong residence on several occasions before the murders.The trio planned a home invasion to rob the couple and then murder them. They later used the victims’ stolen credit cards, checks and identities to make purchases, withdraw funds and repay loans.DNA evidence also linked all three men to the crime. Investigators found DNA at the home, on the rope used to tie Arnold de Jong, and on a metal baseball bat recovered from the suspects’ vehicle.Some internet searches were also conducted by Abhijeet Singh after the news of the deaths became public. The findings were “extraordinarily damaging”, including questions about how murderers are punished in Canada.Defense attorneys argued throughout the trial that the murders were not planned and that the incident was a robbery that got out of control. He claimed there was no direct evidence that his client intended to kill the couple.Justice Brown rejected that argument.The judge said that the accused knew that the De Jongs could recognize them because they had worked at the house before and that was the reason the couple were not released alive.Following the verdict, family members expressed relief but said the pain of losing their parents still lingered.“I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,” daughter Sandra Barthel said after hearing the verdict.She added: “I think there was joy in that, knowing that the judge saw it for what it was and she was able to process it.”Another daughter, Kimberly Coleman, said: “They were people who could never be replaced… There were so many things about them that were so special to us that we miss every day.”The sentencing of Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Toor has been fixed for May 28. Under Canadian law, a conviction for first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.