One of the three men accused of the murder of elderly Abbotsford couple arrived on a student visa three weeks prior

One of the three men accused of the 2022 murder of an elderly Abbotsford couple had arrived on an international student visa only three weeks before he and two other accomplices allegedly killed Arnold, 77, and Joanne, 76, De Jong, said the Crown prosecutor during the opening stages of their trial this MondayThe De Jongs were last seen by family the night before their alleged murder, the evening of May 8th, 2022. After Arnold's sister tried to contact them the next day and was unable to, the couple's son-in-law went to their house and discovered, upon entering, the body of Joanne.When police officers arrived, the couple was swiftly identified as the victims of a homicide.Joanne's cause of death was deemed to be blunt and sharp force trauma, with her being found in her bed in a pool of blood, hands and feet tied with rope.Arnold was found in a separate room, also bound by the hands and feet on a bed, but with his face, including his mouth and nose, tightly covered with duct tape. His death was deemed to be caused by asphyxiation.Co-Crown counsel Dorothy Tsui said that the victims apparently knew the three men, as they had hired a cleaning company owned by Abhijeet Singh, one of the accused, to clean their roof and eavestroughs in 2021 and 2022.The other two men, Gurkaran Singh, the man on the visa, and Khushveer Toor, both worked for Abhijeet and his company and had worked at the De Jong's house in April 2022.Tsui said that Gurkaran had arrived in Canada on an international student visa in April and was set to attend Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, B.C.The Crown alleges that the couple was killed for money and that the three men were mainly motivated by “debt, financial pressure, and greed.”The men allegedly stole a credit card, a chequebook, and a pressure washer.Police tracked the purchases that were made on the credit card to Rogers Communications accounts under the names of two of the accused and also a $5,600 cheque, apparently signed by Joanne, which Toor had deposited in person.Tsui said another cheque, for $5,100 and also apparently signed by Joanne, was deposited into Gurkaran's account with the memo of "cleanup of house."A couple days after the murders, the three men flew to Brampton, Ontario, but later returned to B.C. and began renting a basement suite together. They were all arrested at this residence on Dec. 16th, 2022.When they were arrested, police searched a vehicle the three men shared and found a weapon in the trunk that had been used in the murders.Tsui summed up the cause for the murders as "...from cleaning the De Jong residence, the three men knew that the De Jongs were an elderly couple who lived alone and owned a trucking business.”The Crown says that it will present "a body of forensic evidence," including DNA, phone and financial records, and will call "at least" 24 witnesses.Singh, Singh, and Toor have all pled not guilty to two counts each of first degree murder.The trial is expected to last eight weeks.

One of the three men accused of the murder of elderly Abbotsford couple arrived on a student visa three weeks prior

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