"Farmers feed the planet"

Now there's a scene that belongs nowhere other than beyond the gates of Hell. Fully seventy years of living separating an elderly farmer and the two vicious thugs who beat him to death.

An 88-year-old Quebec-based farmer, an immigrant to Canada from Holland, 60 years ago, when he bought farmland, raised a family, grew crops to feed a community, and saw meaning in a life well lived, still fully independent, robbed of his life by young men whose corrupt, unengaged morals saw fit to take that life.

One young man on the cusp of 18, whose anti-social behaviour and drug use saw him disowned by his family and thrown out of school. The unnamed murderer (unnamed under the provisions of the Youth Protection Act) found a haven with 88-year-old Jacques Jong, who rented out a house to him.

Behind in his rent, he convinced his 18-year-old collaborator to accompany him to Mr. Jong's farm. Where the two confronted Mr. Jong and mercilessly beat him. They carried the unconscious man outside, still breathing. Then spent hours in the vacated farmhouse, searching for money, cleaning up the evidence of their crime.

The previously convicted youth, as yet awaiting sentencing had testified that his friend, Jean-Philippe Simard-Desjardins had gone back outside and informed him: "I hit the man in the head with a shovel. It's not pretty." That was his defence, that it was his friend who had killed the old man after they had beaten him unconscious.

The jury at his trial found him guilty of murder nonetheless. And in the later trial of Simard-Desjardins, cautioning the jury to use "great prudence" in the credibility of the younger man, to view him as a "very dubious witness", that same jury returned a verdict of not guilty to Judge Jean-Pierre Plouffe.

Justice hinged upon who, between the two young men who had taken it upon themselves to mercilessly beat a frail, elderly man who posed no threat to anyone - but lived an exemplary life, loved growing tulips, sang Gregorian chants and opera while he worked on the repair of farm machinery - they would believe.

Each of the attackers owns a challenged conscience that could not respond to compassionate care for another human being.

After the death of Mr. Jong, the two smoked pot, drank liquor, went to a friend's house, then to a bar in Gatineau, to spend the evening drinking with friends. They divulged to one friend what they had done, but that dread act stretched credibility too far for the friend until later proof arrived in the form of the news that the old farmer was nowhere to be found.

Until a few days later police, alerted by Mr. Jong's daughters to his sudden disappearance, discovered his body under debris, at his beloved, still-cared-for, 250-acre farm. "When my father disappeared for three days we thought he had been taken sick. He was completely independent." One of Mr. Jong's daughters still cannot understand why her father was murdered.

One of his murderers has been convicted, the other has been acquitted and permitted to return home to his family in Plaisance. Simard-Desjardins' lawyer is satisfied with the outcome of his client's trial: "Everyone is entitled to a miracle in his life, and you've got one", he reportedly told his client after the verdict was delivered.