For some time, "Your Sikhs today" has been a standing headline on WWW. Every day we receive tips and leads to news of crimes -- criminally dangerous driving, extortion, arson, drug smuggling, and murder -- committed by Sikhs living (legally or otherwise) in our countries. All Sikh men bear "Singh" as a surname or middle name.
As I said, we receive such news every day, but Ed. declared a moratorium on posting such, not because we cavil at fanning the flames of anti-Sikh sentiment (especially in British Columbia and Ontario) but because our readers are getting bored, as witness the declining number of "hits" on such articles. Today's story, however, is so horrific that it cannot pass unnoticed.
Yesterday, three Sikhs men from Surrey BC were found guilty of killing an Abbotsford BC senior couple in their home. Pictures of the murderous Singhs are hard to find. Some meeja outlets have confused them with the "Surrey 3" implicated in the 2023 assassination of Sikh extremist leader Hardeel Singh Nijjar. So Ed. has inset a court artist's drawing into a photo of their victims.
In a crime reminiscent of the movie In Cold Blood, the elderly couple, Arnold and Joanne De Jong, were murdered in their Abbotsford home in May of 2022 by Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh, and Khushveer Singh Toor.
Dismissing the "botched robbery" defence put forward at trial, Justice Brenda Brown accepted the Crown's argument that the three men were motivated by "debt, financial pressure and greed" when they planned the home invasion and murders.
Evidence was presented during the trial that they used the De Jongs' credit cards, driver's licence and cheques to make purchases, pay off debt, withdraw cash and send money to relatives in India. Said the judge, "I’m satisfied that the murders of both victims were carefully planned, deliberated and executed. I’m satisfied that each accused is guilty of first-degree murder."
The bodies of the De Jongs were discovered on the morning of 9 May 2022 in their home on a rural road in east Abbotsford. Arnold De Jong owned two trucking companies and was a stereotype of the rich farmer portrayed stories like In Cold Blood.
The court heard that Joanne De Jong, 76, was found in her bed with her hands and feet tied by rope and surrounded by a “significant amount” of blood. A pathologist determined she had died as a result of "sharp-force trauma" – stab wounds to her neck, possibly caused by a screwdriver – and "blunt-force trauma" to her head, possibly inflicted by a hammer.
Arnold De Jong, 77, was also found in bed – in a separate bedroom – with his hands and feet also bound, and his entire head and face tightly wrapped in duct tape. His cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to smothering.
The court heard that the three Sikhs, who all lived together in Surrey BC, knew the De Jongs because Abhijeet Singh owned and ran a cleaning company, and the two others worked for him. They had done work at the De Jong home in July 2021 and April 2022.
The Crown had argued that all three should share culpability no matter who inflicted the mortal injuries. Each of the defence lawyers argued that the killings were not premeditated – a requirement of first-degree murder – and that there was no evidence to directly link their client to the murders.
The defence lawyers each argued that their clients might have participated in the home invasion, but they were not involved in the actual killing.
Justic Brown said, "The suggestion that anyone in the house would not have been aware of what was going on is unrealistic, and I reject any evidence suggesting otherwise." Both Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Singh Toor had cleaned the De Jong residence a month before the killings, the judge found, and knew they would be recognized by the couple during the robbery. "Because of this, they could not leave the De Jongs alive at the conclusion of the home invasion. Even if the invaders were masked, the police would likely be able to learn their identities in short order."
Victim impact statements will be heard later this month. Under Canadian law, the murderous Sikhs will be sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. However, our legal expert reminds us, there is a loophole -- the "faint hope" clause in the Criminal Code -- which says parole eligibility hearings may be held earlier in certain cases.
What if the Singhs raise the argument that they are actually political prisoners, since they were raising money to help in the fight for a Free Khalistan? Don't dismiss the possibility that a typically liberal Canadian adjudicator might just buy that!
