Trial of three international students charged in horrific double-murder of Arnold & Joanne De Jong during home invasion wraps up Tuesday
Judge left to decide whether Crown has proven first-degree murder or accept defence’s case this was a robbery gone wrong
March 10, 2026
What lawyers on all sides agreed upon in BC Supreme Court room 404 in Abbotsford this week is that the deaths of Arnold and Joanne De Jong were horrific.
Tuesday (March 10, 2026), was the final day in the 31-day trial of Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh, and Kushveer Singh Toor, charged with the first-degree murder of the De Jongs late on Mother’s Day 2022 or in the early hours the next day.
“This was a horrific thing that happened,” Gurkuran Singh’s lawyer said in closing arguments on Tuesday. “It was simply horrific.”
The court heard the three men brought a softball bat, rope, duct tape, and cleaning supplies to the De Jongs’ home, a house they had been at previously for a job cleaning the outside.
Abhijeet Singh was alleged to have hatched the plan for the home invasion, to rob them in the house and access bank accounts and credit cards.
What they also did was brutally kill 77-year-old Arnold and 76-year-old Joanne, after tying them up, and taping their mouths shut. Joanne had been bludgeoned with the bat and her throat slashed.
What all three lawyers for all three men argue, is that the deaths were not murder but were a result of a botched robbery. They argued that Crown cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt the planning and intent nor each of their particular participation in the killings enough for a first-degree murder conviction.
William Dorsey argued for the Crown, on the other hand, that there is a strong case proving the three conspired, planned, and committed the murders based on evidence, including DNA, videos, receipts, text messages, banking records, and more.
Dorsey said Singh, Singh, and Toor visited Home Depot and Canadian Tire before the robbery on May 8, 2022, and bought a hammer, screwdriver, ropes, a softball bat, disposable gloves, and heavy-duty cleaning materials. Dorsey said a reasonable person could infer that this showed the three knew the De Jongs would need to be confined. It showed the men knew it would be violent, and there would be blood to clean up.
Abhijeet Singh’s lawyer Andrew Cochrane did acknowledge his client had some moral culpability in that he was party to the break-in and he may have received some of the stolen property.
“What we say the Crown hasn’t proved and cannot prove is murder,” Cochrane said in closing arguments on Monday.
Dorsey disagreed, pointing to what appeared to be an overwhelming circumstantial case.
Son-in-law found them dead
Arnold and Joanne De Jong hosted some of their family members the night before Mother’s Day at their home on an Arcadian Way in rural east Abbotsford on Saturday, May 8, 2022.
The next day, their daughter Heather De Jong-Hoogland called but there was no answer. She got her husband Raymond Hoogland to check in and it was he who found their bodies after 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 9, 2022. He found Joanne’s beaten body, throat slashed, mouth duct-taped shut under covers on her bed.
Both Arnold and Joanne had been tied up, were partially undressed, brutally murdered.
Dorsey argued the motive was greed, as a day after the killings the three international students tried with “breakneck speed” to empty bank accounts and use the De Jongs’ credit cards.
They flew to Toronto soon after, but did return to B.C. In December 2022, all three were charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
More than $10,000 by way of two forged cheques were deposited in two of the men’s bank accounts. Several attempted credit card transfers failed, but one of the men’s mobile phone bill was paid with Arnold’s credit card less than 12 hours after he was killed.
Broadcast media want bat evidence
After the three defence counsel wrapped up their cases followed by a brief response from Crown, that ended the trial.
Another subject came up, however, requests by Global and CTV to get access to some of the video exhibits played in court. There was some discussion about not showing videos including people uninvolved in the case. The media outlets seem particularly interested in the softball bat. There were videos and photos of it being put in the trunk, one of the men posing with it and one swinging the bat.
The softball bat did prove to be important in the case in a number of ways. To show it was clear that no one of the three acted independently, Dorsey said an inference could be made that because of its size, all three men knew one of them had the bat during the home invasion. He also said it was clear the bat was not intended to break a window at the residence because doing so would have eliminated the element of surprise.
Therefore, he asked the court to conclude, the men brought the softball bat purchased from Canadian Tire with the intention of using it in a violent manner, which is what happened.
Crown suggested one of the videos illustrated one of the men posing with the bat as if it was a trophy, something his lawyer called “inflammatory” and not of probative value.
Crown didn’t oppose the release of the videos, but there was some discussion about exactly what the media were after. Toor’s lawyer Donna Turko had the strongest opposition, saying that none of the videos should be released until there is a verdict.
“We don’t want people swinging bats, that will never be gone, and that will be played and replayed on TikTok,” Turko said.
Justice Brenda Brown agreed that until someone is convicted, they have the right to privacy in the videos. She also wondered aloud what public interest there could be in seeing a video with the bat.
“It might be colourful,” Justice Brown said. “It might be something people in the public would like to look at but that’s not legitimate public interest.”
She suggested the media could look at the video, since the videos were seen in court anyway, but not have a copy of it.
Turko then put forth an odd speculation if the video were to be released to the public.
“It would be really a shame to see the swinging bat put to Britney Speers song Hit Me Baby One More Time,” Turko said. “That’s the kind of thing that happens on the internet.”
In the end, Justice Brown put the case over to another date for her decision and the media’s application to access the videos will be dealt with separately.
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Paul J. Henderson
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