Lin family *murdered with hammer bought from $2 shop* (ABC)

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A man accused of murdering five of his relatives at their Sydney home told a fellow prisoner he bought the hammer used in the attack from a $2 shop because it had dummy CCTV cameras, a court has heard.

Prosecutors said the inmate would also testify that Robert Xie told him where the weapon had been hidden and that it could still be found.

Xie, 50, is accused of using a hammer-like object tied to his wrist to bludgeon his brother-in-law and his family at their home in Boundary Road, North Epping, in July 2009.

Norman Lin, Mr Lin's wife Lily, their sons, Henry and Terry, and Ms Lin's sister Irene all died after being beaten around the head in an overnight attack.

Xie has pleaded not guilty to each of the murder charges.

Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC told Sydney's Supreme Court on Monday that Xie allegedly hatched a plot in prison to implicate someone else over the killings.

He said Xie believed he would not be committed to stand trial, but if was, he would embark on what he referred to as Plan B.

The court heard the ultimate version of this plan would have seen the DNA of a dead man placed on the murder weapon, a hammer that had been disposed of.

Defendant 'physically incapable' of murdering family

Mr Tedeschi said the inmate, who would be referred to as witness A, would also testify that Xie told him he purchased the hammer at a $2 shop which he believed only had dummy surveillance cameras in it.

The prosecutor conceded witness A had spent most of his life in prison for offences that include dishonesty and his most recent sentence was substantially reduced in exchange for giving evidence.

Outlining the defence case, Graham Turnball SC said his client was physically incapable of having committed the crimes.

The barrister asked Xie to stand up in the dock and told the jury his client was only 170 cm tall and weighed 60kg.

Mr Turnball said Xie has no prior criminal convictions and there was no proof the killings were carried out by one person.

"It is not accepted that this was the work of one person," Mr Turnball said.

He said no-one had come forward to testify that Xie was a violent person capable of murdering the family in the dark.

Mr Turnball urged jurors to focus on evidence about the the crime scene and whether or not the crown proposition could be proven.

At the opening of the trial on Friday the court was told Xie was motivated by a bitterness towards the adults in his family and that some of the bodies were left in a "bizarre manner".

The court heard each victim was beaten about the head, but that Mr Lin and his wife had particularly brutal injuries, with their faces "smashed" and completely destroyed.

The case continues.

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