Wiping away tears, Yang Fei Lin described how his daughter Kathy Lin told him she had found his two grandsons, Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, and their mother Lily, 44 and aunt Irene, 39, bludgeoned to death in their North Epping home about 10am on July 18, 2009.

Mr Xie, Kathy's husband, had gone to the unit Mr Lin shared with his wife Feng Qing Zhu at Merrylands and driven the elderly couple to Min and Lily's house, which was blocked off by police.

Lian Bin "Robert" Xie, 50, is accused of murdering five members of the Lin family using a hammer-like weapon and asphyxiation in the early hours of July 18, 2009. He has pleaded not guilty.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Lin said when they arrived, Kathy told him Min was missing, and he hoped his son had been abducted and was still alive.

He told the NSW Supreme Court Mr Xie then offered to adopt a surviving family member, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

"I said her grandparents are still around, we are capable of raising her. We have already done so when she was a baby," Mr Lin said.

"We thought he said it to comfort us."

Under questioning from Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, QC, Mr Lin said his two children and his four grandchildren and Mr Xie gathered at the Merrylands unit the night before the murders, as was their usual custom on a Friday night.

Mr Lin said Mr Xie was present when he asked Min when the absent family member would return home to Australia from overseas. The family was told she would be home on Monday.

He also said his wife asked Henry to stay the night but Henry declined because he wanted to practise badminton in the morning.

The trial before Justice Peter Johnson continues.

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