Duct tape and blood: B.C. double-murder suspects fled to Brampton before arrests, court hears<\/a><\/p>\nThey didn\u2019t use weapons to kill Arnold De Jong to avoid a \u201cmess\u201d of blood that they\u2019d left in Joanne\u2019s room, Dorsey said Friday.<\/p>\n
Instead, his face was wrapped in duct tape and he died of asphyxiation.<\/p>\n
The bat, Dorsey said, had been bought by Abhijeet Singh in the lead-up to the murders, and was found by police in the trunk of a car they shared.<\/p>\n
Joanne De Jong\u2019s DNA was detected on the weapon, but Dorsey said the suspects kept it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all wanted to maintain their connections to the bat while knowing full well what it had been used for, to take a woman\u2019s life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The court also heard that Abhijeet Singh had conducted \u201cexceptionally damning\u201d Google searches about punishment of murderers in Canada after media reports of the deaths.<\/p>\n
Dorsey said searches extracted from Abhijeet Singh\u2019s cellphone showed he was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about punishment faced by murderers after the killing of the De Jongs in their home.<\/p>\n
The public gallery was packed with family and friends of the De Jongs as Dorsey made his closing submissions.<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s three daughters, Sandra Barthel, Kimberley Coleman and Heather Hoogland were among dozens of people in attendance.<\/p>\n
Coleman said outside court that the family had faith in police and prosecutors, and the courtroom being filled with supporters showed \u201ca lot of love behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have hope. We have the hope that there will be the right decision made in this case,\u201d Coleman said.<\/p>\n
The De Jongs were found in their separate bedrooms on the morning of May 9, 2022, their hands and feet bound with rope, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Dorsey said circumstantial evidence was a \u201cmajor component\u201d of the case against the three men, and he told the judge that the Crown had established the case for first-degree murder.<\/p>\n
He said the data from Abhijeet Singh\u2019s phone showed he had accessed news articles about the deaths, and soon after made Google searches about murder punishments in Canada, killing someone in self-defence and \u201cthird-degree murder sentence for international students.\u201d<\/p>\n
The articles, Dorsey said, didn\u2019t name the victims or contain the address of the home, but Singh had also searched the couple\u2019s address on Google before the home invasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the De Jongs were not named, nor was their address provided, but Mr. Singh already knew that information,\u201d Dorsey said.<\/p>\n
Online data also showed Singh had accessed a Wikipedia page on culpable homicide in Canadian law, as well as legal education and lawyers\u2019 websites explaining the differences between first, second and third-degree murder.<\/p>\n
The Google searches, he said, \u201care exceptionally damning.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three accused were arrested in December 2022 at a home they shared in Surrey, B.C.<\/p>\n
They left the province on May 11, Dorsey said, after media reports about the murders<\/p>\n
Dorsey said the men were motivated by debt, financial pressure and greed to invade the De Jongs\u2019 home and violently rob the couple, detailing how bank and cellphone records, fingerprints, DNA and other evidence implicated the men in the killings.<\/p>\n
Dorsey told Justice Brenda Brown that the three suspects went to the couple\u2019s home to do cleaning work before the murders, and they \u201chastily\u201d left British Columbia shortly after the killings, fleeing to Brampton.<\/p>\n
Dorsey said the three men moved at \u201cbreakneck speed\u201d to steal money after killing the couple, paying off cellphone bills, cashing cheques totalling more than $10,000, and attempting to set up a fraudulent money transfer account in Arnold De Jong\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Helen Leusink, Joanne De Jong\u2019s sister, said outside the Abbotsford courthouse that \u201cshock, anger (and) disbelief is what occupies your mind, that something like this could happen to our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leusink said there\u2019s been disappointment about how long it took for the trial to begin, and she was still reeling from the evidence presented in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t imagine that for a bit of monetary gain they could commit such a heinous crime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her memories of Arnold and Joanne De Jong are overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister was a loyal and loving sister who stood by me through every joy and trial of my adult life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cArnie was a unique man, but very loving and kind and willing to give to those in need. They were wonderful people, honourable people. Delightful to be with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defence submissions are set for next week.<\/p>\n
By Darryl Greer<\/p>\n
\u2013 With files from INsauga.com<\/p>\n
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