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Disturbing videos shown in a Canada court have revealed how two of the men convicted of murdering an elderly couple in British Columbia recorded their actions before and after the killings, including filming themselves on the victims’ roof and posting footage with a murder weapon and music playing in the background.It’s been nearly a month after three Indian-origin men were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Arnold and Joanne De Jong. Fresh court evidence has shed further light on the case that shocked Canada.According to Global News, one video presented during the trial showed Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Toor filming themselves on the roof of the De Jongs’ home about a month before the murders. A TikTok video was also posted by Toor in which he was placing one of the murder weapons, a metal baseball bat, into a vehicle.In May, Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Toor guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of the Abbotsford couple. Prosecutors successfully argued that the killings were carefully planned and carried out for financial gain.The victims, Arnold De Jong, 77, and Joanne De Jong, 76, were found brutally murdered inside their home on Arcadian Way in east Abbotsford on May 9, 2022.There were multiple chilling details of the attack. Joanne was found tied up on her bed with blood around her body. A pathologist concluded that she died from stab wounds to the neck and blunt-force injuries to the head, believed to have been inflicted with a screwdriver and hammer. Arnold was found in a separate bedroom with his hands and feet bound. His head and face had been tightly wrapped in duct tape. He died from asphyxiation after being smothered.The three men, all in their 20s, were arrested in December 2022. They were not strangers to the victims. Abhijeet Singh operated a cleaning business and Gurkaran Singh and Toor worked for him. The company carried out cleaning jobs at the De Jongs’ home several times before the murders. The trio planned a home invasion to rob the elderly couple before killing them. After the murders, they stole cheques, credit cards, identities and other belongings. The men later used the stolen items to make purchases, withdraw money and pay off debts.Later, Forensic evidence was found linking the three men to the crime. DNA was found inside the home, on rope used to restrain Arnold De Jong and on a metal baseball bat recovered from the suspects’ vehicle. Also, internet searches made by Abhijeet Singh after news of the killings became public. The searches were “exceptionally damning” as it included questions about how murderers are punished in Canada.Defence lawyers said the incident was a robbery that went out of control and insisted there was no direct evidence that their clients had intended to kill the couple. The court rejected that argument, saying that the murders had been planned in advance. The judge concluded that the men knew the De Jongs could identify them because they had previously worked at the house and that this was why the couple were not left alive.The verdict brought some relief to the victims’ family, but the pain of losing their parents remains as strong as ever.“[It] felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,” daughter Sandra Barthel said after hearing the guilty verdicts.Another daughter, Kimberley Coleman, said: “They were people that could never be replaced … They had so many things about them that were so special to us that we miss every day.”The case has again returned to court after lawyers for Khushveer Toor launched a constitutional challenge related to parole eligibility rules in cases involving multiple murder victims. Lawyers for the other two convicted men are also expected to join the challenge.Under Canadian law, first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. However, the new challenge could further delay sentencing proceedings, which are now scheduled to continue in September.The prospect of additional court proceedings has angered the De Jong family.“Our parents were tortured, they were murdered,” Sandra Barthel told Global News. She said the killers treated the murder weapon like a “trophy” or a “piece of gold.”She added: “I’m sure our parents begged for mercy and we’re not shown that, and yet the irony of a faint hope clause in this case in which they can get released from jail, possibly after 15 years, just does not seem just to us.”Her sister Heather Hoogland said: “It’s like opening a can of worms for any person that is coming to Canada, and if they commit a crime, they can get off scot-free.”
