‘There was horror that night’: B.C. family will always live with knowing fear seniors felt before being killed

The court heard two very different versions of what led to the brutal killing of two seniors in their Abbotsford home, as the trial for three accused wrapped.

Warning: This story contains graphic details

It has been a trial that has been both long and painful.

For almost two months, family and friends of Arnold and Joanne De Jong have packed an Abbotsford courtroom, hearing the disturbing details about how the much-loved couple was killed.

“It’s a really difficult trial, and there’s been people very affected by the loss of our mom and dad,” said one of the De Jongs’ daughters, Sandra Barthel, who choked back tears as she spoke outside court on the final day of closing submissions.

“So together with our faith, and these people, we’ve just felt upheld,” she said Tuesday.

Beside her and behind her stood dozens of other family members and friends of the De Jongs who also attended throughout the trial.

“The fear that they had to go through in those last hours, we will always remember that, and it’s hard on all of us,” said Arnold’s sister, Wyn Vanderhorst.

Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh and Khushveer Toor are all charged with two counts of first-degree murder. They have all pleaded not guilty.

The De Jongs, who were grandparents in their 70s, were found dead in their home in May of 2022. They had been tied up with rope. Arnold De Jong’s head had been wrapped in duct tape. Joanne’s throat had been slashed.

During closing submissions, defence lawyers have suggested the killings happened during a botched robbery. Defence has each said there is no evidence to support a finding of murder.

The De Jong family doesn’t buy it.

“There was horror that night. The way they were killed, day after day, we live with that. And we think of the agonizing moments that our mom and dad went through,” said an emotional Kimberley Coleman, another of the De Jongs’ daughters.

“That’s been really difficult and that won’t leave us past today…that will never leave us,” she said.

Crown has argued the killings were deliberate and motivated by financial pressure and greed. They said the accused had done cleaning work at the De Jongs’ home.

The De Jongs’ family said even through the darkness of death, they have been gifted with slivers of light.

“In spite of evil that was done, every day we come into such loving people’s presence here. And that, to me, is the light. That’s what kept us going,” said Coleman.

Mike Dykshoorn, Joanne DeJong’s brother, said from the police to the prosecution, many people have “gone above and beyond” in their work to find justice in this case.

Meanwhile, the family said they are looking for ways to honour their parents, hoping something good might come of something so awful.

The judge will hand down her decision in the case on May 8, almost four years to the day Arnold and Joanne were found dead in their home.