Gumleaf
August 8th, 2009, 02:27 AM
15:12 AEST Sat Aug 8 2009
By Doug Conway
"Mum, where are you? Why did you leave?"
Schoolgirl Brenda Lin's questions hung in the heavily-scented air, heavier than a thousand hearts.
Too overcome to utter the words in person, she was speaking in a recorded video message at the funeral service for her family, brutally bashed to death at their North Epping home in Sydney three weeks ago.
Brenda, dressed in black, sat demurely, hands clasped together, in front of five shiny caskets, all laden with flowers and surrounded by petals.
They contained the bodies of her Chinese-born father Min "Norman" Lin, 45, mother Yun Li "Lily" Lin, 43, brothers Han "Henry" Lin, 12, and Tian "Terry" Lin, nine, and her mother's sister Yun Bin "Irene" Yin, 39.
The orphaned 15-year-old, away on a school excursion when the attack took place, may never get answers to all of her questions.
For the brutal murders appear motiveless, despite being "targeted", and police are yet to unearth any weapon or suspects.
"Who am I going to share my secrets with?" Brenda asked in the recorded tribute to her mother.
"Who is going to fuss over me every single day?
"I miss your hugs, I miss your crazy fashion styles, but most of all I miss you.
"You were the one person who could guide me through life.
"I relied on your experience and knowledge.
"No one can take your place."
Brenda said the last time she saw her newsagent father was when he took her to Sydney airport for her school excursion to New Caledonia.
"I was thinking it's only for a week, I'll see you again real soon," she said in her video message.
"I never thought it would be the last time I saw you.
"You are a very important figure in my life.
"You will never be replaced.
"Now you have been taken away for ever.
"You did not even give me a chance to say a proper goodbye."
She remembered her brother Henry as the "person who taught me how to laugh".
"You always made me smile whenever I saw you," she said.
"I really don't think I can smile the way I did before."
Henry had promised to show her some of his magic tricks when she returned.
"You broke your promise," she said.
"You have never broken promises before."
To her youngest brother, Terry, she said: "I can still hear you singing Christmas carols even when it wasn't Christmas".
"The room feels so empty without you."
Brenda's grandparents could barely speak through their tears, but her grandmother Zhu Fengqin managed to say: "Where are all your smiling faces?"
"Lily would always bring a cake and candles on my birthday, but next year who will light the candles for me?
"Henry was our English teacher, and Terry loved my cooking, especially deep stewed pork.
"But your grandma just doesn't want to cook any more."
Her grandfather Lin Yangfei said he was "utterly devastated".
"Every night, I still lie in the special blanket my son bought me for my bad back.
"But I can't sleep. My grief-stricken heart won't let me."
Chinese consul-general Hu Shan lashed out at those responsible for the murders.
"How can we not feel the pain of losing such a kind and harmonious family?" he said through a translator.
"Words are not enough to condemn the cruelty and inhumanity of the crime."
He said he hoped the killers could be brought to justice as soon as possible, adding: "Only by doing so can the souls of the victims truly rest in peace".
Local MP Greg Smith expressed the outrage of the local community when he said: "We are all entitled to feel secure in our own beds at night, in our own homes, in our peaceful neighbourhood".
"We are still haunted by the question why?
"They were a loving, peaceful, happy family.
"What harm could those two happy little boys have done, except perhaps to identify their cowardly assailants?
"We are still in the dark."
An estimated 1,000 mourners gathered at Sydney's Olympic park site at Homebush on Saturday to farewell the Lin family.
They included Buddhist leaders in orange and yellow robes, schoolgirls from Cheltenham Girls High wearing red tunics and each carrying a single white rose, and green-blazered boys from Epping.
Dignitaries included federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy.
Many wept as they filed past Brenda Lin, offering hugs, kisses and condolences.
The distraught schoolgirl herself managed to stay composed, offering gentle smiles and kind words to all, and occasionally wide smiles for her classmates.
They had all come to comfort her, but really she was comforting them.
© AAP 2009
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/847587/thousands-gather-for-lin-family-funeral - link to see footage
By Doug Conway
"Mum, where are you? Why did you leave?"
Schoolgirl Brenda Lin's questions hung in the heavily-scented air, heavier than a thousand hearts.
Too overcome to utter the words in person, she was speaking in a recorded video message at the funeral service for her family, brutally bashed to death at their North Epping home in Sydney three weeks ago.
Brenda, dressed in black, sat demurely, hands clasped together, in front of five shiny caskets, all laden with flowers and surrounded by petals.
They contained the bodies of her Chinese-born father Min "Norman" Lin, 45, mother Yun Li "Lily" Lin, 43, brothers Han "Henry" Lin, 12, and Tian "Terry" Lin, nine, and her mother's sister Yun Bin "Irene" Yin, 39.
The orphaned 15-year-old, away on a school excursion when the attack took place, may never get answers to all of her questions.
For the brutal murders appear motiveless, despite being "targeted", and police are yet to unearth any weapon or suspects.
"Who am I going to share my secrets with?" Brenda asked in the recorded tribute to her mother.
"Who is going to fuss over me every single day?
"I miss your hugs, I miss your crazy fashion styles, but most of all I miss you.
"You were the one person who could guide me through life.
"I relied on your experience and knowledge.
"No one can take your place."
Brenda said the last time she saw her newsagent father was when he took her to Sydney airport for her school excursion to New Caledonia.
"I was thinking it's only for a week, I'll see you again real soon," she said in her video message.
"I never thought it would be the last time I saw you.
"You are a very important figure in my life.
"You will never be replaced.
"Now you have been taken away for ever.
"You did not even give me a chance to say a proper goodbye."
She remembered her brother Henry as the "person who taught me how to laugh".
"You always made me smile whenever I saw you," she said.
"I really don't think I can smile the way I did before."
Henry had promised to show her some of his magic tricks when she returned.
"You broke your promise," she said.
"You have never broken promises before."
To her youngest brother, Terry, she said: "I can still hear you singing Christmas carols even when it wasn't Christmas".
"The room feels so empty without you."
Brenda's grandparents could barely speak through their tears, but her grandmother Zhu Fengqin managed to say: "Where are all your smiling faces?"
"Lily would always bring a cake and candles on my birthday, but next year who will light the candles for me?
"Henry was our English teacher, and Terry loved my cooking, especially deep stewed pork.
"But your grandma just doesn't want to cook any more."
Her grandfather Lin Yangfei said he was "utterly devastated".
"Every night, I still lie in the special blanket my son bought me for my bad back.
"But I can't sleep. My grief-stricken heart won't let me."
Chinese consul-general Hu Shan lashed out at those responsible for the murders.
"How can we not feel the pain of losing such a kind and harmonious family?" he said through a translator.
"Words are not enough to condemn the cruelty and inhumanity of the crime."
He said he hoped the killers could be brought to justice as soon as possible, adding: "Only by doing so can the souls of the victims truly rest in peace".
Local MP Greg Smith expressed the outrage of the local community when he said: "We are all entitled to feel secure in our own beds at night, in our own homes, in our peaceful neighbourhood".
"We are still haunted by the question why?
"They were a loving, peaceful, happy family.
"What harm could those two happy little boys have done, except perhaps to identify their cowardly assailants?
"We are still in the dark."
An estimated 1,000 mourners gathered at Sydney's Olympic park site at Homebush on Saturday to farewell the Lin family.
They included Buddhist leaders in orange and yellow robes, schoolgirls from Cheltenham Girls High wearing red tunics and each carrying a single white rose, and green-blazered boys from Epping.
Dignitaries included federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy.
Many wept as they filed past Brenda Lin, offering hugs, kisses and condolences.
The distraught schoolgirl herself managed to stay composed, offering gentle smiles and kind words to all, and occasionally wide smiles for her classmates.
They had all come to comfort her, but really she was comforting them.
© AAP 2009
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/847587/thousands-gather-for-lin-family-funeral - link to see footage