The family of a Vancouver teen murdered 12 years ago say they were relieved to see her alleged killer finally face justice as he made his first court appearance Friday.

Ninderjit Singh returned to B.C. on Thursday with a police escort following his Aug. 19 arrest in California. He appeared in Vancouver provincial court to face a first-degree murder charge in the 1999 shooting of 18-year-old Poonam Randhawa as well as an unrelated attempted murder charge.

Avtar Singh Randhawa, the murdered girl's great uncle, told reporters outside the court that he had mixed feelings about seeing Singh in court.

"[I'm] upset that he did such a big crime and he is still alive," Randhawa said.

But at the same time, he added, "We are relieved that finally he is caught. We appreciate the Vancouver police -- they did a good job."

Poonam's parents are in India for a funeral right now, but Randhawa said they are not coping well, and have suffered more than a decade of heartache.

"They are in terrible shape. They feel terrible and they are very upset," he said.

"For all those 12 years, they were in a bad situation."

Another relative, Sarwan Singh Randhawa, said the slain girl's mother desperately wanted to catch a glimpse of the man accused of such a gruesome crime.

"The mother always says, ‘I want to see this person and ask him why he killed my daughter,'" he said.

He remembers Poonam as an inseparable friend of his own daughter.

"She was a wonderful kid, bright student, and always laughing, joking. I don't understand why this happened to her," he said.

"We want the maximum punishment according to Canadian justice."

Until his arrest last month, Singh had been living with his wife and two young children in San Jacinto, where he worked as a truck driver.

He is accused of murdering Poonam -- an ex-girlfriend -- during her lunch break at Sir Winston Secondary on Jan. 26, 1999. He allegedly shot her once in the head as she sat in the back of a friend's car and then dumped her body on a quiet street.

Singh allegedly fled the country for California immediately after the slaying, and police on both side of the border have been searching for him ever since. They came close to catching him in San Jose in 2000, but he was apparently tipped off and disappeared once again.

During his time on the lam, Singh's appearance has changed drastically. The once-slim man ballooned to 300 lbs., grew a beard and started wearing a turban.

The family of his alleged victim said they could barely recognize him in court on Friday.

"We are surprised. We looked back at the old pictures, and now the present one -- we are surprised how much he has changed," Avtar Singh Randhawa said.

The accused man's wife told investigators that she could not believe her husband was the same the man shown in the wanted photos issued for Singh. She has also said she was unaware of the outstanding charges against him in Canada.

Singh's lawyer Eric Gottardi says the alleged killer's family is now en route to Vancouver from California.

He will make his next court appearance on Oct. 7.

Since Singh's arrest, police have said they will reopen the case files on the Randhawa murder to see if more charges are warranted. That might include some charges against Paul Aulakh, the man driving the car in which the teen was killed.