As the trial of three Indian men accused of murdering an elderly couple in British Columbia begins, Crown prosecutor Dorothy Tsui told the court that the killings were driven by “debt, financial pressure and greed.”
The victims, Arnold and Joanne De Jong, were found dead in their home on May 9, 2022. The accused — Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Singh Toor — had previously carried out cleaning work at the couple’s house, including cleaning rooms and gutters, in the months before allegedly plotting the murders. Prosecutors say that after killing the couple, the men took credit cards, cheques and a pressure washer from the home.
Abhijeet Singh operated a cleaning company that worked at the De Jongs’ residence in July 2021 and again in April 2022. The Crown alleged that shortly after the murders, Gurkaran Singh and Khushveer Singh Toor deposited cheques exceeding $5,000 into their bank accounts, with the cheques purportedly signed by Joanne De Jong.
The court was told that Gurkaran Singh had arrived in Canada on a student visa less than a month before the killings. He was enrolled to attend Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, but never went to the college, according to the prosecution.
Following the murders, the three men allegedly fled British Columbia and rented a basement apartment in Surrey, where they lived together until their arrest later in 2022. All three have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
The trial began on Monday and is expected to run for 40 days. The Crown plans to call at least 24 witnesses and says it will present a substantial body of circumstantial evidence, including fingerprints, DNA allegedly found on a weapon recovered from the trunk of a car used by the accused, as well as cellphone data, financial records and evidence from electronic devices.
