Robert Xie: Convicted killer’s wife vows to stand by him — ‘He is a very good man’
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The wife of Robert Xie, one of the state’s most evil mass killers, says she is standing by him despite his conviction yesterday for the bloody murders of her brother and his family. Kathy Lin says she believes her husband is innocent.
NSW
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NOT for a single second has Kathy Lin believed her husband Robert Xie was capable of the brutal and bloody murder of her family.
But the worst part for her is that she truly believes the person who killed the five members of her family — remains free.
On Thursday Xie, 53, was found guilty by a majority jury verdict of 11-1 of bludgeoning to death his wife Kathy’s brother Min Lin, 45, Lin’s wife Lilly Lin, 43, their sons, Henry, 12, and Terry, nine, and Lilly’s sister Irene Yin, 39, in their North Epping home in 2009.
“This has destroyed my family — we were just a simple, happy family,” Ms Lin told the Daily Telegraph in an exclusive interview.
“I know who my husband is and I know he had a good relationship with my parents, my brother and my brother’s children — he loved them so much,” she said.
“In the early stages of the investigation, the police believed there was more than one person involved. No one could have done this by themselves. Not one person did this.”
Sitting in a Epping café just days before the jury were sent out to deliberate in December, Ms Lin trembled and put her hands over her mouth to stifle her tears as she spoke about the toll the past seven years has had on her.
But at times Ms Lin would smile, talking about how much her husband loved his eldest nephew Henry.
She explained how in the week leading up to the bloody murders, her husband played badminton with Henry and took him to Macquarie Sports centre.
“He’s a family man … he is a very good man, a good father and this has been so hard for my son.”
But her views were very much different from the picture that was painted for the jury.
The Crown argued Xie murdered Mr Lin and his family because he felt humiliated and angry and “lost face” that his brother-in-law was a better businessman than he was.
His parents-in-law belittled him and told Kathy that she could have married someone better and more handsome.
The Crown case was that after secretly drugging his wife in the early hours of Saturday, July 18, 2009, Xie took a hammer-like weapon from their home in Beck St, North Epping.
He walked the 300m to the Boundary Rd home where he let himself in with his key and first bashed to death Min and Lilly Lin in their beds.
ROBERT XIE FOUND GUILTY OF LIN FAMILY MURDERS
He then moved on to his nephews and Lilly’s sister Irene who were killed because they were “collateral damage” and may have been able to identify him.
What is impossible for Kathy Lin to comprehend is how her husband could have murdered the people she believes he is the closest to.
“He had a very good relationship with my brother — every Friday night we went to dinner with my brother’s family to my parent’s house.
“The whole thing is too difficult for me. My husband needs me to support him — this is the only thing that has helped me to survive.”
And it has been hard for Ms Lin — having lost five members of her family and then having her parents turn against her for supporting her husband.
She has visited Xie almost every week of the 4½ years he has spent in custody — at Long Bay, Parklea and more recently, Silverwater Correctional Centre.
Finding it hard to sleep, Ms Lin often stays up until all hours of the night, researching and working on her husband’s defence.
She says it has been difficult as English was their second language and feels that police have “twisted” their words.
“I don’t understand why they charged my husband when the evidence points away from him — the evidence is contradictory to what prosecutors and police suggest.
“We’ve respected the system, the whole family has respected the system but the system is not working — it has failed us.”
After a jury was not able to reach a verdict in 2015, Ms Lin said it was a special moment when her husband returned home.
She said they spent a lot of time cooking, having owned a restaurant previously in Melbourne.
Each day during his six-month trial Ms Lin continued to cook for her husband — warming his food up in the microwave above King St Court three of the NSW Supreme Court.
“I fight for my husband because he is innocent-— he will keep fighting for his innocence.”
After six months of evidence and eight days of deliberation, the jury told Justice Elizabeth Fullerton at lunchtime yesterday that it was impossible to reach a unanimous verdict.
The judge told them to keep deliberating but under two hours later, they sent the judge another note asking for advice on returning a majority verdict.
“We have no reason to believe that with more discussions a unanimous verdict could be reached,” the note said.
Just minutes after Justice Fullerton said they could return either a guilty or not-guilty verdict of 11-1, the jurors returned to court with their verdicts.
JOURNEY TO JUSTICE FOR LIN FAMILY
2009
July 17: Members of the extended Lin family get together for their regular Friday night dinner at the home of grandparents Yang Fei Lin and Feng Qin Zhu
July 18: The battered bodies of newsagent Min Lin, 45; his wife Lilly Lin, 43; their sons Henry 12, and Terry, nine; and Lily’s sister Irene, 39 are found in their North Epping home
July 29: Min’s sister Kathy Lin and her husband Robert Xie make an emotional plea for public help in solving the crimes
2011:
May 5: Robert Xie is charged with the murders
2012
December 19: Xie committed to stand trial
2014
May 9: NSW Supreme Court trial starts before Justice Peter Johnson
June 10: Jury discharged for legal reasons
August 5: Second trial starts
September 23: Jury discharged because of ill-health of Justice Johnson
2015
February: Third trial starts before Justice Elizabeth Fullerton
November 12: Jury begins deliberations
December 1: Jury discharged after failing to reach verdict
December 11: Xie released from prison on bail after spending almost five years behind bars without a conviction
2016
June 29: Fourth trial starts before Justice Fullerton
Dec 23: Xie’s bail revoked before imminent retirement of the jury
Dec 30: Jury begins deliberations
2017
Jan 12: Xie found guilty of murdering five members of the Lin family
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