Earlier this month, Abhijeet Singh, Khushveer Toor and Gurkaran Singh were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Arnold and Joanne De Jong.
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What Raymond Hoogland saw when he entered his in-laws’ home the morning after Mother’s Day four years ago left him “broken beyond repair” — but worse was still to come.
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In a victim impact statement delivered to a packed courtroom Thursday in Abbotsford, Hoogland said he was asked to check on Arnold and Joanne De Jong by his wife, who was worried when she couldn’t reach her parents on the phone on May 9, 2022.
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He said he had a feeling something was wrong when he pulled up in front of their house. Inside, he found Joanne dead in her bed. Later, police would also find Arnold.
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“What I knew at that very moment was going to destroy my wife, Heather,” Hoogland said in a strong voice. “It was going to destroy her sisters and so many other family members and friends. Making that phone call was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
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Equally painful, he said, was listening to his wife tell their two young sons that “Grandpa Arnie and Grandma Jo were dead.”
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In a series of 21 wrenching victim impact statements, members of the De Jong family, including the murdered couple’s three daughters and their husbands and their young granddaughter, spoke about their loss.
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The family had expected to hear Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown sentence the three men who were found guilty of first-degree murder earlier this month, but a constitutional challenge by one of the defence lawyers related to the faint-hope clause must be heard first.
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First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of full parole for 25 years. Last year, in response to a constitutional challenge, a Nanaimo judge restored the faint-hope clause for those convicted of first-degree murder, giving them the right to apply for a review of parole eligibility after 15 years. Those convicted of multiple murders remain ineligible.
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It has been more than four years since Arnold and Joanne De Jong were found murdered in their beds. Arnold, 77, died of asphyxiation after his head was wrapped in duct tape. Joanne, 76, died of sharp and blunt force trauma after she was beaten with a bat and her throat was likely slashed with a screwdriver.
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Earlier this month, Abhijeet Singh, Khushveer Toor and Gurkaran Singh were found guilty of first-degree murder. The three young men lived together; Gurharan Singh was an international student from India, and Abhijeet Singh owned a Surrey cleaning company that had recently cleaned the roof and gutters at the couple’s home.
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In her victim impact statement, Heather Hoogland said she still has several voicemail messages from her parents.
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“I refuse to upgrade my phone as I fear losing those messages and never hearing their voices ever again,” she said. “To never hear my mom’s voice or laughter … or my dad’s voice requesting tech support at 11pm at night.”
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She said her sons don’t know the details surrounding the deaths of her parents “or the evil way that these cowards came into my parents’ home and decided to take their lives.”
