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A 42-year-old man accused of killing a family of four and burying their bodies in a New Territories village appeared in Fanling Court yesterday to face four counts of murder. 
Xu Shengqi, a decoration worker who holds a two-way permit to enter Hong Kong, is accused of killing Chinese University clerk Tam Shing-fai, 43, his wife Helen Tong Yan-yee, 34, and their two daughters, Tam Hiu-man and Tam Hiu-ying, aged 10 and seven, on Sunday.
No plea was taken during yesterday's court appearance. 
The bodies of the family were dug up from a cemented-over pit in the yard in front of the family's zinc-sheet shack in Ping Che Tsuen, Ta Kwu Ling, on Tuesday. 
Xu, dressed in  jeans and shirt, appeared  calm in court. He gave a firm response when charges were read out,  saying: 'Understand.' 
The prosecution told the court that Xu was found near the shack on Monday, the day the clerk was reported missing. 
The court heard that Xu appeared nervous when police approached to question him, which made them suspicious. 
The prosecution asked Acting Principal Magistrate Bernadette Woo Huey Fang to adjourn the case to Monday, to allow time for an identification parade for a retailer who might have sold the cement  used to cover the hole in which the family was buried. 
Meanwhile, defence counsel told the court that Xu had been assaulted twice by police when he was taken to the house on Wednesday to carry out a reconstruction of the crime. 
Xu was remanded in police custody. He will appear in court again on Monday



Decorator appears in court charged with murder of couple and their two children