Three men convicted in the brutal murders of two Abbotsford seniors are challenging how long they should serve in prison before being considered for parole under the so-called faint hope clause. “The faint hope clause makes no sense to me. It’s ridiculous,” said Brian Barthel, the son-in-law of victims Arnold and Joanne De Jong. Kushveer Toor, Abhijeet Singh and Gurkaran Singh were convicted earlier this year in the 2022 first-degree murders of the De Jongs, who were attacked during a home invasion. The convictions carry an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. “We have some young offenders here with no previous records…we want them to be able in 15 years to go before the court, before a jury, and have a jury decide when they should be able to get parole,’ said Donna Turko, Toor’s lawyer. But the De Jong’s family doesn’t think the killers deserve that chance. “You committed a crime, and you should have to fulfill that life sentence or the mandatory eligibility without being entitled to less,” said one of the De Jong’s three daughters, Sandra Barthel. During court, Turko read letters from her client’s family who described him as kind-hearted, caring and deeply religious. Abhijeet Singh’s lawyer, Tyson Talhan, said his client’s risk for future violent offending is rated low. Talhan referenced a recent report from a forensic psychologist that found Singh experiences deep regret for the harm caused to victims and their families. But the De Jong family isn’t buying it. “We’ve seen no remorse. We’ve seen nothing to indicate that they’re sorry for what happened,” said Barthel. Meanwhile, defense described Gurkaran Singh as having a supportive family and said he’d been contributing positively while at Surrey Pretrial. Defense argues the faint hope clause provides just that, hope to convicted murderers. “It gives you the incentive when you go to jail to focus on yourself, become a better person and not give up hope,” Turko explained. “Certainly, people can be rehabilitated, but I do feel like for this type of crime, you need to serve your punishment,” said Kimberley Coleman, another of the De Jongs’ daughters. Brian Barthel said the way in which the De Jongs were murdered represents pure evil. “We pray that justice will prevail,” he said
