Accused murderer Max Sica threatened to "bring down" the father of his alleged victims because he refused to let him marry his daughter, a court has heard.
Sica, 41, is accused of strangling Neelma Singh, 24, the year after he asked her father, Vijay Singh, if he could marry her.
He is also on trial for killing her siblings Kunal, 18, and Sidhi, 12, on the same occasion with a garden fork.
The three were found dead in a spa at the family home in the outer Brisbane suburb of Bridgeman Downs on April 22, 2003.
The crown alleges Sica, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, killed the trio, tried to clean up after himself by using bleach, and later called police pretending to be upset, to deflect the blame from himself.
Mr Singh told the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday that Sica had approached him in March 2002, asking for his blessing to marry Neelma.
"I said (to Sica), 'You are married, you have children, you are older than my daughter,' and the most obvious reason was his character," he said.
"I said the exact words, 'You are a criminal. You are not fit for my daughter.'"
Mr Singh said Sica then became angry and told him he would "take my daughter (Neelma) from me whatever happens".
An argument then followed, Mr Singh told the court.
"I threatened him that 'I will smash your face with a brick' and he also threatened me that I don't know his capabilities and he'll ... bring me down and things like that," he said.
The marriage request came after Mr Singh realised Neelma had spent more than $1000 on phone calls to Sica while she was working in Dubai and confronted her about it, he said.
Mr Singh said he met Sica in 2001 after moving next door to his parents in Stafford in Brisbane's north.
A short time later, he grew wary of Sica's relationship with Neelma after he noticed Sica and Neelma sitting close to each other at a computer in his house late one night, he told the court.
"I did not like the association (because) my daughter was growing up," he said.
Mr Singh said before his relationship with Sica soured, the two families "used to get along very well" and Sidhi used to play with Sica's two children.
He told the court he was in Fiji with his wife Shirley when he got a call in April 2003 saying his three children were dead.
He returned two days later to identify the bodies.
He said he travelled regularly to Fiji for his auto parts business and had formed a relationship with another woman while he was overseas.
The trial has earlier heard evidence that Neelma once asked Sica to bash her father because she believed he was cheating on her mother.
Mr Singh said on Friday that after he had started the new relationship, he received a threatening answering machine message from a man with a Fijian accent.
"They said things like, 'I'll rape your daughter, I'll kill your wife' and things like that," he said.
A recording of the message was played to the jury earlier this week.
The trial will resume on Monday when Mr Singh will continue giving evidence.
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