A popular Sydney truck driver and business owner brutally bashed to death in a home invasion has been described as "irreplaceable".
Friends and family are in shock after Keith Cini and his wife Lucy were beaten up by club-wielding intruders in their Badgerys Creek home in Sydney's west.
Police arrived early on Friday morning to find Mr Cini, 69, dead and his wife, also in her 60s, suffering head injuries and a broken wrist.
Homicide squad Detective Inspector Hans Rupp believes up to three offenders were involved and used clubs in the attack.
"It was a brutal attack and clearly the man was very badly assaulted and the woman was also assaulted, but she's not in a serious condition," he told reporters.
Mr Cini's best friend, Charlie Zahra, said his slain mate was irreplaceable.
"I know him for 25 years, he always help me," he told reporters outside the Cini home on Friday.
"I couldn't talk of any better man.
"I can't talk a bad word about him. He was like my father."
Mr Cini operated a freight company and piggery from the same property as his single-level brick home.
An employee told AAP that Mr Cini had been involved in a legal dispute with former workers in 2013.
One of Mr Cini's part-time employees, who asked not to be named, said Mr Cini built his business from the ground up and transported pork to Sydney restaurants around Cabramatta and the city centre.
The teary-eyed man said he was in disbelief.
"He was always helping out a lot of people," he told AAP.
"Always willing to give you a hand ... he probably trusted people too much."
Signs of the horrific crime were evident on Friday afternoon - the front window of the Cini home was smashed and curtains were askew.
The couple have two daughters.
Forensic officers, a police dog and detectives searched the property.
The motive for the attack is not known.
"It's in the very early stages of investigation at this stage and we're obtaining a statement from the woman in hospital," Det Insp Rupp said.
"We've canvassed the street and we're looking at CCTV footage from the surrounding service stations," he said.
A coroner's van arrived at the property at noon and Mr Cini's body was taken from the home.
Lucy Cini remains in Liverpool Hospital.
