Patriarch gives evidence at Xie trial

The patriarch who lost five members of his family has told the Xie murder trial he found the accused murderer standing outside the bedroom of a relative the man had allegedly sexually assaulted.

Yang Fei and Feng Qing's world was shattered when most of their family was wiped out in July 2009, and the pain hasn’t eased, still etched on their faces.

Their son Min, daughter in law Lily, her sister Irene and their treasured grandsons Henry and Terry were bashed to death, allegedly at the hands of son-in-law Robert Xie.

The Crown alleges Xie committed the murders because of money, resentment and he wanted to sexually assault a female relative.

Today, Yang Fei told the court he got up one night after the murders and found Xie standing near that relative's bedroom.

The patriarch of the Lin family described arriving at the North Epping home where they had been killed.

He choked back tears as he said, "my wife and I were very heartbroken."

"That's why we had a tiny bit of hope, hoping that he could have been abducted," he said after being told his son’s body hadn’t been found.

Min's body was discovered about four hours later under a doona.

The family had met for dinner the night before as they usually did on a Friday.

Yang Fei told the court "nothing unusual was said at the table," and said his son didn't have enemies.

"He was very friendly to everyone."