Disturbing videos played in a Canadian court reveal how two men convicted of killing an elderly couple in British Columbia recorded their actions before and after the killings, including filming themselves on the victims’ roof, posting footage of them using the murder weapon and playing music in the background.It’s been nearly a month since three Indian-American men were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Arnold and Joan DeYoung. New court evidence has shed more light on the case that has shocked Canada.According to Global News, one of the videos shown during the trial showed Abhijit Singh and Khushveer Toor filming themselves on the roof of De Jong’s house about a month before the murders. Tur also posted a video on TikTok, in which he places one of the murder weapons, a metal baseball bat, in the car.
In May, Gurkaran Singh, Abhijit Singh and Khushveer Toor were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of the Abbotsford couple. Prosecutors successfully argued that the killings were carefully planned and carried out for financial gain.The victims, Arnold DeYoung, 77, and Joan DeYoung, 76, were found brutally murdered inside their home on Arcadian Road in East Abbotsford on May 9, 2022.There were multiple horrific details of the attack. Joan was found tied to her bed with blood around her body.
The coroner concluded that she died from stab wounds to the neck and blunt head injuries, 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 were tightly wrapped with duct tape. He died of suffocation after being suffocated.The three men, all in their 20s, were arrested in December 2022. They were no strangers to victims.
Abhijeet Singh was running a cleaning company and Gurkaran Singh and Toor were working with him. The company had done cleaning work at the De Jongs’ home several times before the murder. The trio planned to break into a house to rob the elderly couple before killing them. After the murders, they stole checks, credit cards, identification and other property.
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 a rope used to restrain Arnold De Jong and on a metal baseball bat recovered from the suspects’ vehicle. Also, internet searches conducted by Abhijit Singh after news of the killings became public. The inspections were “exceptionally harsh” because they included questions about how killers are punished in Canada.Defense lawyers said the incident was a robbery that got out of control, and insisted there was no direct evidence that their client intended to kill the couple.
The court rejected this argument, saying that the murders were planned in advance. The judge concluded that the men knew the de Jong family could recognize them because they had previously worked in the house and that was why the couple had not been left alive.The ruling has brought some comfort to the victims’ family, but the pain of losing their parents remains as strong as ever.“[It] “I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,” his daughter, Sandra Barthel, said after hearing the guilty verdicts.Another daughter, Kimberly Coleman, said: “They were people who could never be replaced. They had so many things special to us that we miss every day.”The case is back in court after Khoshvir Tour’s lawyers launched a constitutional challenge regarding parole eligibility rules in cases involving multiple homicide 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 appeal may delay sentencing proceedings, which are now scheduled to continue in September.The prospect of additional legal action has angered De Jong’s family.“Our parents were tortured and killed,” Sandra Barthel told Global News. She said that the killers treated the murder weapon as if it were an “honor” or a “piece of gold.”She added: “I am sure our parents asked for mercy and did not show it to us, yet the irony of a faint hope clause in this case by which they could be released from prison, perhaps after 15 years, does not seem fair to us.”“It’s like opening a can of worms for anyone who comes to Canada, and if they commit a crime, they can get away with it,” said her sister, Heather Hoagland.
