VANCOUVER – The lawyer for a government-sponsored refugee who was later convicted of killing four people near Vancouver says his client’s convictions should be overturned because of confusing evidence.

Charles Kembo was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in June 2010 in the deaths of his wife, girlfriend, step-daughter and business partner in separate plots motivated by financial gain.

Tom Arbogast told a B.C. Appeal Court panel that the eight-month trial featured 154 witnesses, copious financial records and evidence presented in a confusing sequence.

RCMP arrested Kembo in summer 2005, shortly after the body of his step-daughter Rita Yeung was found wrapped in a garbage bags.

Kembo’s wife, Margaret, went missing first and her body was never found, his business partner Ardon Samuel was found dead in November 2003, while Kembo’s girlfriend, Sui Yin Ma, was killed in 2004.

Kembo was denounced by a judge after the jury found him guilty of the murders, calling the serial killer a predator who exploited innocent, vulnerable people who were closest to him.