ABBOTSFORD — One of three suspects in the alleged home-invasion murders of an Abbotsford, B.C., couple conducted “exceptionally damning” Google searches about punishment of murderers in Canada after media reports of the deaths, a Crown prosecutor said in closing submissions Friday.
Crown lawyer William Dorsey said the searches extracted from Abhijeet Singh’s cellphone showed he was “deeply concerned” about punishment faced by murderers after the deaths of Arnold and Joanne De Jong in May 2022.
Dorsey’s closing submissions began in an Abbotsford courtroom Friday, where the public gallery was packed with family and friends of the De Jongs.
Singh, Gurkaran Singh and Khushveer Toor all pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder when the trial began in January, nearly four years after the De Jongs were found dead in their home.
They were found in their separate bedrooms on the morning of May 9, 2022, their hands and feet bound with rope, and Arnold De Jong’s face wrapped in duct tape, the court heard.
Dorsey said the circumstantial evidence is a “major component” of the case against the three men, and told the judge that the Crown has established the case for first-degree murder.
He said data from Abhijeet Singh’s phone showed he had accessed news articles about the deaths, and soon after entered Google search queries related to murder punishments in Canada, killing someone in self-defence and “third-degree murder sentence for international students.”
The news articles, Dorsey said, didn’t name the victims or contain the address of the home, but Singh had also searched the couple’s address on Google before the home invasion.
“Obviously the De Jongs were not named, nor was their address provided, but Mr. Singh already knew that information,” Dorsey said.
Online data also showed Singh had accessed a Wikipedia page on culpable homicide in Canadian law, as well as legal education and lawyers’ websites explaining the differences between first, second and third-degree murder.
The Google searches, he said, “are exceptionally damning.”
The three accused were arrested in December 2022 at a home they shared in Surrey, B.C.
Dorsey said the men were motivated by debt, financial pressure and greed to invade the De Jongs’ home and violently rob the couple, detailing how bank and cellphone records, fingerprints, DNA and other evidence implicated the men in the killings.
Dorsey told Justice Brenda Brown that Abhijeet Singh bought items at Home Depot and Canadian Tire before the home invasion, including a softball bat later found with Joanne De Jong’s DNA in the trunk of the vehicle used by the three men.
The Crown says the three accused had gone to the couple’s home to do cleaning work before the murders, and they “hastily” left British Columbia shortly after the killings, fleeing to Brampton, Ont.
Dorsey said the three men moved at “breakneck speed” 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’s name.
Helen Leusink, Joanne De Jong’s sister, said outside the Abbotsford courthouse that “shock, anger (and) disbelief is what occupies your mind, that something like this could happen to our family.”
Leusink said there’s been disappointment about how long it took for the trial to begin, and she was still reeling from the evidence presented in the case.
“You can’t imagine that for a bit of monetary gain they could commit such a heinous crime,” she said.
Her memories of Arnold and Joanne De Jong are overwhelmingly positive.
“My sister was a loyal and loving sister who stood by me through every joy and trial of my adult life,” she said.
“Arnie 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.”
The Crown’s closing submissions continued into Friday afternoon, with defence submissions set for next week followed by the Crown’s reply.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2026.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
