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12-Jan-2017
Robert Xie convicted of quintuple family murder
Sydney, Australia
After four trials, a Supreme Court jury found Robert Xie guilty of murdering five members of his extended family. The victims were Xie's brother-in-law Min Lin, his wife Lily, their two sons Henry (12) and Terry (9) and his wife's sister Irene. Their heads were bashed with a "hammer-like" object in the middle of the night in their North Epping home.
Key physical evidence was a brown stain on the cleaned floor of Xie's garage that contained DNA from at least four of the victims. Cybergenetics TrueAllele® computer technology mathematically separated the mixed DNA evidence, and statistically connected Stain 91 with the victims. Dr. Mark Perlin gave evidence about the TrueAllele match results in 2014 (admissibility hearing), 2015 (third trial) and 2016 (fourth trial).
The Crown Prosecution decided to use Cybergenetics "because TrueAllele was the only technology that could reliably solve the problem of analysing a mixture containing up to five related family members," and "Dr. Mark Perlin could provide an explanation of its solution that would be understandable to the court."
Former ENT physician Xie may have been motivated by his reduced status in the Lin family. Following the jury's majority 11 to 1 verdict, he faces life in prison.
Links
- Robert Xie found guilty of murdering five members of extended family - ABC
- How 'Stain 91' found in Xie's garage 10 months after brutal murders condemned him as the killer - Daily Telegraph
- What drove Sydney man Robert Xie to murder five of wife’s relatives in North Epping house - Daily Mail
- Australian man Robert Xie guilty of family killings - BBC