3 convicted killers of elderly B.C. couple file Constitutional challenge

CTV News has obtained videos seen during the trial of three men convicted of murdering an elderly couple in their B.C. home.

Three men convicted of killing Abbotsford seniors Arnold and Joanne Dejong have now all filed Constitutional challenges, seeking consideration for early parole under the so-called faint-hope clause.

Khushveer Toor, Abhijeet Singh and Gurkaran Singh were all found guilty last month on two counts of first-degree murder.

The conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. But the trio is now asking that they be eligible for consideration of early parole.

“Where’s the faint hope for us? Where’s the faint hope for my parents? Where was the faint hope when they were being tortured to death?” said an emotional Heather Hoogland, one of the De Jongs’ daughters.

The Charter challenge won’t be heard until September, meaning it will be many months before the family of the victims can put the court case behind them.

“Every other country in the world, you murder somebody, you pay the price,” said a frustrated Sandra Barthel, another of the De Jongs’ daughters.

The family is also commenting on videos entered at trial as exhibits and obtained by CTV News through court.

In one of the videos, Toor gets out of a car and puts a bat into the trunk of a car.

It is the same bat that was brought to the home of Arnold and Joanne De Jong the night they were killed. When the bat was seized by police more than six months later, it still had Joanne De Jong’s DNA on it.

“The baseball bat, it was almost treated like a trophy,” said Barthel.

“This was not something they were ashamed of. This almost seemed like it was something they took pride in, and they were treating that bat almost like a treasure,” she said.

The De Jong’s were grandparents in their seventies. They were found dead in their home May 9, 2022. They had been tied with rope. Arnold’s head had been wrapped in duct tape and Joanne had been bludgeoned. Her throat was slashed.

Abhijeet and Toor had done exterior home cleaning for the De Jongs. In another video, they can be seen working and sitting on the roof of the De Jong home. One of the videos also shows part of the De Jong’s property.

“It makes your skin crawl that they were around the house and gathering information about what the lay of the land was,” said Hoodland.

“Seeing that they were videoing the roof and the area around it on the day of, just made it seem so much more premeditated,” Barthel said.

Two of the men convicted were in Canada on student visas, but during the trial, court heard that neither of them were attending school.

“I think Immigration Canada has failed,” Hoogland said. “If they had been doing their jobs, my mom and dad…would still be here.”