Grief boxes help community cope with killings
Geesche Jacobsen and Dylan Welch
July 23, 2009
A LOCAL bank has opened an account for donations for Brenda Lin, 15, the only surviving member of the Lin family, who were bludgeoned to death in their beds last Friday.
Brenda Lin Support Fund
BSB 633 000, Account number: 137615498
The bank has also displayed grief boxes to allow children to leave messages about their schoolmates, to help in their healing.
Yesterday police inquiries moved to Macquarie University, where they appealed for staff and students who had met the children's aunt, Yun Bin "Irene" Lin, to come forward.
The head of the homicide squad, Detective Superintendent Geoff Beresford, said there was no suggestion police had information that the motive for Saturday's killings might be linked to the university. Police remain at a loss about a motive, murder weapon, or time of death of the five members of the family.
It is understood Ms Lin, who came to Australia about a year ago on a student visa, had begun a masters degree in commerce at the business faculty.
Superintendent Beresford also appealed for members of the Chinese community in particular to come forward with information about the family because there was hardly anyone left to tell police about their background.
At the family home last night, forensic officers were close to concluding their inquiries. While three autopsies have been carried out, police still appear unsure about the murder weapon. It was often difficult to determine exactly what caused blunt force head injuries, Superintendent Beresford said.
Police were still wondering how five people could be killed in one house without anyone hearing anything.
One mother said two of her children had been at school with Terry Lin, 9, and they had not yet understood what had happened to him and his family.
"I don't think they have really grasped it, they keep on saying 'why'," she said.
Asked what effect the killings had had on her family, she replied: "I try not to get so angry, kiss the kids a bit more, hug them a bit more."