3 Indian-origin Youth Convicted of Murdering Canada Couple

Three Indian-origin persons have been convicted of first-degree murder by a court in Canada in connection with the killing of a couple in Abbotsford, according to local broadcaster CBC News. Sentencing for the three is scheduled for May 28.

The victims, Arnold and Joanne De Jong, were found dead in their Abbotsford residence in May 2022. They were found in separate bedrooms, with Arnold’s head and face wrapped in duct tape while Joanne was found with blood around her, as her throat was slit. The hands and feet of the husband and wife were tied with ropes.

Four years later, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown on Friday ruled that Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Toor, played a crucial and integral role in the couple’s murder. The prosecutors argued that the murders were financially motivated and the judge agreed with their version, rejecting defence arguments that the deaths resulted from a robbery that went wrong.

The prosecutors told the court the three Indian youth, all in their 20s, had together planned to rob and kill the couple. They even stole the credit cards, cheques and a power washer from the house. The trio worked for a cleaning company owned by Abhijeet Singh, whose company had previously carried out work at the De Jongs’ home.

The accused, at the start of the trial, had pleaded not guilty to two counts each of first-degree murder.

According to a report in CBC News, the prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence linking all three accused to the killings, including DNA recovered from the crime scene, rope allegedly used to tie up Arnold De Jong and a metal baseball bat recovered from the suspects’ vehicle.

Prosecutors also produced phone data evidence showing Abhijeet Singh searching on the internet about the killings and punishment for murder in Canada.