Soon after a judge was urged to lock up mass murderer Robert Xie for the rest of his life, his wife again proclaimed him innocent of bludgeoning five of her relatives to death in Sydney.
"Families, friends, supporters and I keep support my husband," Kathy Lin said outside the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
"He is innocent, we believe that he is innocent, we keep fighting for him."
But prosecutor Tanya Smith said the case involved "a trusted relative slaying the family ... in the most brutal, callous and calculated fashion".
"The killings constituted criminality of the highest order," she told Xie's sentence hearing.
"The level of culpability in the present offence is just so extreme that it cannot be reflected in a lesser sentence than life."
A jury last month found Xie guilty of using a hammer-like object to inflict horrific head injuries on the Lin family in the bedrooms of their Sydney home in the early hours of July 18, 2009.
The victims were his newsagent brother-in-law Min Lin, 45, his wife Lily, 43, the couple's sons Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, and Lily's 39-year-old sister Irene.
The Crown contended he was fuelled by resentment and humiliation at his perceived "inferior" status in the extended family and also had a sexual motive, which can't be published for legal reasons.
Whatever motive was determined by the judge, Ms Smith said life was appropriate as Xie was clearly acting in his own self-interests.
He attacked the relatives in their bedrooms in a quiet suburban home in the early hours of the morning.
"A place where they were all entitled to be safe and secure and a place where young Terry and Henry should have been able to pursue a happy childhood."
The murders involved meticulous planning and preparation and an "extreme degree of violence was utilised".
Xie silently gained entry into the home with a key he had been entrusted with as a family member.
He used his knowledge of the upstairs layout and the location of the power box to turn off the electricity.
Xie's lawyer Kara Greiner said she was instructed to make no submissions on sentence.
"He continues to maintain his innocence, accordingly I am unable to assist the court further," Ms Greiner said.
Justice Elizabeth Fullerton will sentence Xie on Monday.
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