Soon after the murders of her entire immediate family, Brenda Lin considered her aunt to be the most important person in her life.

But their relationship grew visibly strained and complicated during the trials of Robert Xie – Kathy's husband and Brenda's uncle – who was convicted of the murders of the Lin family.

Xie, 53, was this month sentenced to five life terms for the murders of his brother-in-law Min "Norman" Lin, 45; Mr Lin's wife Yun Li "Lily" Lin, 43; her sister Yun Bin "Irene" Lin, 39; and the Lins' two sons, Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, at their North Epping home on July 18, 2009.

The Crown had argued that Xie was partly motivated to kill the family to get complete access to Ms Lin, who was then a teenager.

Ms Lin told court that when she moved into Xie and Kathy Lin's house after the murders, her uncle repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

After years of court proceedings, various legal judgments in the Xie case have been published by the NSW Supreme Court, one describing how Ms Lin grappled with her loyalty to her aunt before making a formal statement about the sexual abuse.

Ms Lin told Xie's solicitor about the abuse in 2014, but then later sent a text message saying she no longer wanted pursue the issue.

When asked later why she initially thought she would not disclose the abuse, Ms Lin told the court in 2015: "I didn't want to do anything that would hurt my aunt as well, and I wanted my aunt to be happy.

"I just wanted my uncle to come back home so my aunt could live her life as normally as possible."

She then decided to make a formal statement about the abuse after speaking to a law professor, who had become a friend.

"[The professor] then raised an issue saying that if I don't tell the jury the truth and that everything my uncle did, then they don't have the complete idea of what his character is like.

"And since my aunt is ... the person that's most important to me ... then I have to give all the information I have to the jury so they can make a more informed decision, and then, if that's the case, then my aunt can be safe."

Brenda Lin made the revelations while still living with her aunt.

Xie has not been charged over the alleged assaults, but the trial judge, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton, said she accepted Brenda Lin's evidence.

After Xie was sentenced, Kathy Lin continued to maintain her husband's innocence, telling reporters: "He is a loving and caring family man.

"He was wrongly charged with a crime he did not commit. He is a scapegoat".

"We need people to support us to correct this miscarriage of justice... to bring him home."