The Nancy Kissel Case - Part 35

Last week, the High Court heard about the unusual cocktail of drugs found in the stomach of murdered banker Robert Kissel; how the effects on a neighbor who had been served a milkshake at the Kissel residence was ''in line'' with the effects of those drugs, and was shown a new defense exhibit - a baseball bat.

Friday, senior government counsel Polly Wan read out the deposition of Bryna O'Shea, the deceased's "confidante,'' that told a tale of sex, lies, love and betrayal as O'Shea recounted how what was viewed as "the best marriage in the universe'' ended with Nancy Kissel being charged with the murder of her husband.

Kissel, 41, is accused of serving her husband a milkshake laced with sedatives, which left the banker unconscious at the foot of their bed as she beat him to death with a heavy metal ornament on November 2, 2003. The accused told a doctor and the police her drunken husband had assaulted her after she refused him sex and then disappeared. She denies the charge and is out on bail. The banker's body was found wrapped in a carpet in a storeroom in the Parkview residential complex on November 7.

O'Shea said in her deposition that she felt the accused, whom she treated like a sister from the time they met in 1987, had become "distant'' by 2002. After Robert Kissel began a daily correspondence with O'Shea in April, 2003, she learned of the couple's marital problems and that the deceased "felt she was constantly lying to him.''  In September, Robert Kissel wrote an e-mail to O'Shea asking "do you think she's trying to kill me?'' Thinking it was a joke, she said, "If she's trying to kill you, put me in your will.''

O'Shea described the months leading up to the murder as an emotional rollercoaster for Robert as his hopes for rekindling a lost love were dashed when he discovered an alternative cellphone Nancy Kissel used to keep in contact with an alleged lover in the United States, Michael Del Priore. "He was very frustrated and felt she was constantly lying to him,'' said O'Shea.  He then began proceedings for divorce. O'Shea thought Nancy must have known about the divorce talks since an angry Robert Kissel had e-mailed O'Shea about a mistake which led to the divorce papers being faxed to the home number rather than the office.

O'Shea knew that the deceased had planned to discuss divorce on Sunday night, November 2, 2003, the night he was allegedly murdered. O'Shea had written an e-mail wishing him luck.  When O'Shea did not receive any correspondence the next week, she made inquiries, speaking to Robert Kissel's colleague at Merill Lynch, David Noh, and the family's domestic helper on the phone. The accused left a message on her phone saying, "We had a fight, he chased me around the room. He wanted to have sex. He beat me up.''  But O'Shea thought "it just didn't sound right. It sounded made up.''

She said in the deposition that she had never known the deceased to be violent, although she did remember the accused mentioning an occasion when the deceased had "slammed her against the wall'' but O'Shea was convinced Robert Kissel had never hit her.

Last Monday, a government expert in drug analysis, Dr Cheng Kok-choi, testified that he had never seen in 10 years as a toxicologist such a combination of drugs left behind in the stomach of a corpse. "Not even in suicide cases involving multiple drugs,'' Cheng said.  He added that he found the alcohol levels to be "insignificantly low.''

An alternative report by Professor Olaf Drummer was read out Tuesday that criticized Cheng's methods as being insufficient to show the quantity of the drugs, and how the drugs got there.  Cheng said that in general, Drummer's analysis was correct, and without knowing the quantity of the drugs there was no way to determine their effect on the deceased prior to his death.  But he said the combination of five sedatives and hypnotics would have had an enhanced effect.

On Wednesday, Professor Yeung Hok-keung from Chinese University told the court the drowsiness, slurred speech, and failure to recall events after Parkview resident Andrew Tanzer was served a milkshake at the Kissel residence and was stricken were "consistent of the drugs found in the stomach contents of the deceased.''

Yeung had been in court in June to hear Tanzer testify that there had been a "strange taste'' in the milkshake. Yeung said Wednesday the drugs would have dissolved in the milkshake and that the chemicals would have left a "strange, bitter taste.'' Thursday, the defense team displayed to the jury a baseball bat, as a prologue to the upcoming exposition of the events leading up to the death of Robert Kissel, as seen through the eyes of Nancy.

Previously, the defense has suggested through cross-examination of prosecution witnesses that the accused had used the metal ornament, the alleged murder weapon, to defend herself from an attack and the bruises found on the back of the accused's upper limbs and the curvature of a metal base were inflicted by a baseball bat.

The case continues today.

(Reuters via Boston Globe)  Wife of murdered banker says he abused her for yrs.  August 1, 2005.

An American woman accused of poisoning and clubbing her banker husband Robert Kissel to death in Hong Kong said on Monday that he had snorted cocaine and subjected her to violent physical and sexual abuse for years.

Speaking for the first time since the trial began in early June, Nancy Kissel broke down and wept as she told the High Court of how their marriage fell apart under the influence of her husband's alcoholism, drug addiction and ultra-stressful job.  However, the wife of the high-flying Merrill Lynch banker never told family or friends about their marital problems.  "You just don't (tell). It's humiliating, no," she said.

Nancy, 41, is accused of having fed her husband a glass of strawberry milkshake laced with anti-depressants and hypnotic drugs on Nov. 2, 2003, before clubbing him to death that night, charges which she has denied.  Wealthy, successful and popular, they were seen for years as a model couple and Kissel's murder and his wife's arrest shocked Hong Kong's expatriate community.

Choking on her tears, Nancy told the court how Robert's cocaine habit started in 1989, a time when she juggled with three jobs to support him through postgraduate school.  He changed, becoming impatient and rough when he became a banker and his highly stressful job quickly took its toll.

"When we arrived in Hong Kong (in 1998), our marriage changed. He was starting up new businesses. He was never really home and it took its toll when he got home. He became rougher with me," she said, adding that he would drink throughout the night.

He hit her the first time in 1999 when she refused to induce labor for the delivery of their third child. He wanted the baby born earlier as he would otherwise be in South Korea for work.  "He took a punch at me. I hit the wall and it happened again. He hit me ... and I was 7- months pregnant," she said.  "To induce labor was nothing to him ... He said I was disrespecting him and how hard he worked."

She also related how he became rough with her and coerced her into sex for years after the birth of their third child in 1999.  "After Reis was born, his personality changed so much. It was a routine of coming home, drinking and sex ... it made me non-existent," she said, adding that he broke her ribs on two occasions when she tried to stop him.  I broke my ribs on this and after that I gave in more to it, and more ... and that's it. Then go to sleep and it's over."

The prosecution said earlier that Robert had planned to tell his wife on the night of Nov. 2, 2003, that he was divorcing her after discovering she was having an affair with a TV repairman in the United States and fearing that she was plotting to harm him.

Kissel had become suspicious of Nancy after installing spy software on their home laptop. Using the software, Kissel traced his wife's email correspondence with her lover. He found she had searched the Internet using key words such as "drug overdose."

Police found Kissel's body on Nov. 6, 2003, in a storeroom that the couple rented in the luxury residential estate where they lived with their three children. Prosecutors said Nancy wrapped Kissel's body in a rug and then asked four workmen on the estate to take it to the storeroom.

Her lawyer earlier told the court that on the night of Nov. 2 her husband demanded sex, and when she refused, he beat her and then left -- the last time she saw him alive. The defense has offered no explanation for why his body was found in a carpet.

The trial is expected to last until late August.

(The Standard)  Insight into troubled marriage 'crosses the line' .  By Albert Wong.  August 2, 2005.

In the words of Justice Michael Lunn Monday, the Nancy Kissel murder trial ''crossed the line'' to provide an insight into the couple's marriage, the deceased's success and the years leading to his eventual death.

The victim's father, William Kissel, and younger sister, Jane Clayton, who testified at the beginning of the trial as a prosecution witness, were both present, sitting directly behind the accused.

In an almost full courtroom, Nancy Kissel, in a simple black outfit similar to what she has been wearing throughout the trial, was sworn in. Her mother has been present throughout the trial.

For both families, the tales of drugs, alcohol, violence and sodomy have proved hard to stomach.

Quivering and taking deep breaths between forcing out each phrase, the accused said: "I don't know how to talk about these things,'' but she was invited by her counsel, Alexander King, SC, to describe in detail a history of alleged violence and sodomy.

Both William Kissel and Clayton, shook their heads intermittently and took notes, and when the accused began recounting her husband's alleged developing interest in sodomy, Clayton left the court room, without returning.

An examination of photographs the accused had taken of children, including her own, from Hong Kong International School, and the remembrance of support she received from friends of the school when she struggled to set up home in a new land resulted in tears.

The accused told the court the teachers and parents became a support network when she first arrived in the territory. Almost immediately on arrival in Hong Kong, a place she had no connections with, in 1998, she became the "school photographer,'' helping to revamp the school calendar with photographs of children laughing in work and play around the school. Shortly after, she became vice-president of the board of volunteer parents.

She became a "school ambassador,'' providing an introduction to new parents in Hong Kong, helping with "all the stuff that's not in the Goldman Sachs handbook,'' she said.

As chairwoman of the school fair, she worked 40 hours a week, and sometimes 60 closer to the event.

But her husband had a different attitude. "He thought it was too many hours away from home,'' said the accused. She said her husband asked her to give up the official school positions.

"I needed to focus on being his wife and being at home for him,'' she said. "The fact I wasn't getting paid for any of this bothered him tremendously, but payment wasn't why I did it.''

The victim began to "condense'' her spending, she said, cutting her credit cards from five to one.

"He wanted a better control over what I was spending. It's easier to look at one statement than five,'' she said.

Her decorating duties for their lavish home in Vermont became subject to methodical financial scrutiny, she said. When she was able to make the required cuts in that budget, her husband gave her an extra US$300,000 (HK$2.3 million) almost "as a reward,'' she said.

(The Standard)  Kissel portrays life of hell.  By Albert Wong.  August 2, 2005.

In the most dramatic day in the Kissel murder trial, accused murderer Nancy Kissel took the stand to call her dead husband power-crazed, drug-dependent, sexually abusive and violent.

The accused told the court Monday that a combination of cocaine, alcohol, stress, power, money and a relentless push for success, led banker Robert Kissel to develop a nightly routine of aggressive sodomy, hair-pulling and humiliating sex games.

She alleged her husband hit her the first time in 1999 when she refused to induce labor for the delivery of their third child. He wanted the baby born earlier as he would otherwise be in South Korea for work.

The accused began her testimony by painting a picture of Kissel as violent and controlling - a stark contrast to the family man and model professional previously described by his former Merrill Lynch colleagues.

She said Kissel developed an insistence that she engage in sodomy after putting on weight during her first pregnancy. She came to believe she was no longer attractive to him.

An already difficult situation took a turn for the worse, she said, when the family moved to Hong Kong. "The hours [of Kissel's stressful but successful job] took their toll,'' she said.

Sex became a routine of "oral sex for him and anal sex for me,'' said the accused, adding the banker began to indulge himself in power games with her. "He'd start this game, toying with me, and he would say things to me, so that we would do what he wanted.''

She would find herself trapped between his legs as he pulled her hair and tried to force her to perfom sex acts, she said. That was just the start.

"He would throw me on to the bed to finish. It would always be a struggle,'' she said.

He would force her to lie on her stomach, she said, so he could do as he pleased. "[Once] he tried flipping me over. I didn't want it. He grabbed me by the hips, just twisting. I felt something pop,'' said Kissel, adding she later went to the hospital with a fractured rib.

"[During the act] he was just so angry. It was like I wasn't even there. It was just something he did. He never even had to look at my face.''

Afterwards, she said, "That's it. Everybody goes to sleep. And it's over.'' The next morning, "Everything's normal.'' When asked why she did not tell anybody, Kissel replied, "You just don't. You just don't. It's humiliating.''

Kissel, 41, is accused of serving her husband a pink milkshake, which left him unconscious at the foot of their bed as she bludgeoned him to death with a heavy metal ornament on November 2, 2003.

She told police and doctors at the time her husband assaulted her when she refused him sex. She denies the charges and is out on bail.

On Monday, the accused testified about her time in New York City juggling three jobs waiting on tables, to pay for food, rent and Robert Kissel's MBA studies.

The couple's early married life in New York was "exciting,'' she said, but arguments were already developing because of her husband's use of cocaine. As a hard-working student, he relied upon cocaine, "to get through the hours,'' she said. Her husband had a drug-dealing friend who would come round to their apartment and "money would exchange'' across the dining table.

"I had tons of arguments about it and I was working three jobs to pay [for] tuition, not drugs,'' she said.

At the time, the victim was a social drinker, taking wine, beer, and vodka tonics, but "eventually, he came to love single malt scotch. It became his drink,'' she said.

In 1997, Robert Kissel was delighted when he landed a job at Goldman Sachs.

"It was the biggest firm in the industry, everyone wanted to work with Goldman Sachs,'' the accused told the court. "[It gave him a higher position] and a lot of money.''

But the new job, and preparations for the move to Hong Kong the following year, demonstrated the accumulated nightmare of stress, alcohol and cocaine, which the banker relied upon to stay awake as he worked both US and Hong Kong stock markets.

"It's literally 24 hours of having to be awake,'' said the accused.

On the flight to Hong Kong from New York, "he passed out for 15, 20 minutes, probably from drugs, alcohol, altitude and jet-lag,'' she said. After that incident, instead of shying away from the stress, "he thrived on it.

"It's what made him tick - the power of it all, succeeding.''

Asked why her husband switched from Goldman Sachs to Merrill Lynch in 2000, Kissel replied, "Money.'' It was also a "move to a more controlling position.'' By then, "everything was based around money,'' said Kissel.

In Hong Kong, the drinking and cocaine use continued, she said, with the consumption determined by how long her husband worked at night.

Kissel will continue her testimony today before Justice Michael Lunn.

(SCMP)  Kissel tells of physical, sexual abuse.  By Polly Hui.  August 2, 2005.

Nancy Kissel had to endure night after night of sexual and physical assault from her husband as cocaine, whisky, power and money changed him, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

The 41-year-old, giving evidence on the first day of the defence case, said in tears that Robert Peter Kissel, a top Merrill Lynch banker, had developed a routine of "going home, drinking and sex" after she had their youngest child, Reis, in 1999.

Kissel said the first time Robert hit her was when he realised the expected birth date of Reis would overlap with an important business trip to Korea. He had told her to try to induce labour and was angry she was not listening to him. "The first time he punched at me, he hit the wall because I dodged. When it happened again [for] the same argument the following week, he hit me [on] my face," she said.

Kissel said the first punch was so hard it broke through the cement and plaster of the wall. She knew the deceased had broken his hand the next day when he came home with a cast on his hand.

Alexander King SC, for the defence, asked if she recalled evidence from Dr Daniel Wu of Adventist Hospital, who told the court he had treated the deceased's "boxer's fracture" on his right little finger around August 1999. "It was that night," she replied.

Kissel is accused of bludgeoning her husband to death in their Parkview flat on November 2, 2003, after giving him a sedative-laced milk- shake. She has pleaded not guilty to a count of murder.

Kissel, from the American state of Minnesota, married her husband in 1989. They lived in New York, where she took several jobs in restaurants to finance Robert's master's degree studies in finance at New York University.

Kissel said she knew her husband was dependent on cocaine for his work and studies when they got married, as she had seen a Manhattan dealer at their flat several times to trade the drug. "I watched him use it ... I was working for three jobs to pay for his tuition, not drugs. There was nothing I could do about it," she said, adding that he would turn trivial matters such as not having enough orange juice in the fridge into a huge argument.

Her husband's cocaine consumption continued as he climbed the ladder in the banking world on arrival in Hong Kong in 1997. Kissel said he had to watch the stock markets at "opposite ends of the globe".

"When the Hong Kong market closed, the New York market opened ... [It is] literally 24 hours of having to be awake," she said. "The drugs got him rougher with kids. He became a different person."

She said that once he passed out for about 20 minutes on a plane because of the combined effects of drugs, alcohol and jet lag. He had become increasingly dependent on painkillers and sleeping pills because of work pressures and back pain and drank glasses of scotch daily before and after dinner.

Kissel said that after Reis was born, her husband became much more forceful with her during sex. "It was predominantly oral sex for him and anal sex," she said.

Asked by Mr King to describe how that would come about, Kissel said she would find her husband sitting at the end of their bed with the television on whenever he was home at night. He would not let her walk past him to her side of the bed. "He would start those games ... having me between his legs, toying with me. He would say those things to me so he could do anything he wanted," she said. "He was just so angry ... It was like I wasn't even there ... He never had a look at my face."

"Were you agreeable to that?" asked Mr King. "No," Kissel replied. She said she often had bruises and bleeding from the anal sex forced upon her.

Kissel told of two occasions when her ribs were fractured after Robert tried to twist and flip her over on the bed for anal sex. When it happened the first time in 2001, she sought treatment at Adventist Hospital and was given a Velcro brace to wear around her stomach. "A couple of weeks later, he ripped the brace off and I ended up getting into hospital again," she said.

Asked about how he treated his work, she said: "He thrived on it, it was what made him tick, the business, the power of it all ... when you rise from that structure, from down below - he was very successful."

The case continues today.

(Leading The Charge)  Wife of murdered banker says he abused her for yrs.  August 2, 2005.

An American woman accused ofpoisoning and clubbing her banker husband Robert Kissel todeath in Hong Kong said on Monday that he had snorted cocaineand subjected her to violent physical and sexual abuse foryears.

Speaking for the first time since the trial began in early June, Nancy Kissel broke down and wept as she told the High Court of how their marriage fell apart under the influence ofher husband‘s alcoholism, drug addiction and ultra-stressful job.

However, the wife of the high-flying Merrill Lynch banker never told family or friends about their marital problems.

Nancy, 41, is accused of having fed her husband a glass ofstrawberry milkshake laced with anti-depressants and hypnotic drugs on Nov. 2, 2003, before clubbing him to death that night,charges which she has denied.

Wealthy, successful and popular, they were seen for years as a model couple and Kissel‘s murder and his wife‘s arrestshocked Hong Kong‘s expatriate community.

Choking on her tears, Nancy told the court how Robert‘s cocaine habit started in 1989, a time when she juggled with three jobs to support him through postgraduate school.

He changed, becoming impatient and rough when he became a banker and his highly stressful job quickly took its toll.

"When we arrived in Hong Kong (in 1998), our marriage changed. He was starting up new businesses. He was never really home and it took its toll when he got home. He became rougher with me," she said, adding that he would drink throughout thenight.

He hit her the first time in 1999 when she refused to induce labor for the delivery of their third child. He wanted the baby born earlier as he would otherwise be in South Korea for work.

"He took a punch at me. I hit the wall and it happened again. He hit me ... and I was 7- months pregnant," shesaid.

"To induce labor was nothing to him ... He said I was disrespecting him and how hard he worked."

She also related how he became rough with her and coerced her into sex for years after the birth of their third child in1999.

"After Reis was born, his personality changed so much. It was a routine of coming home, drinking and sex ... it made me non-existent," she said, adding that he broke her ribs on two occasions when she tried to stop him.

"I broke my ribs on this and after that I gave in more to it, and more ... and that‘s it. Then go to sleep and it‘s over."

The prosecution said earlier that Robert had planned totell his wife on the night of Nov. 2, 2003, that he was divorcing her after discovering she was having an affair with a TV repairman in the United States and fearing that she wasplotting to harm him.

Kissel had become suspicious of Nancy after installing spy software on their home laptop. Using the software, Kissel traced his wife‘s email correspondence with her lover. He found she had searched the Internet using key words such as "drug overdose."

Police found Kissel‘s body on Nov. 6, 2003, in a storeroom that the couple rented in the luxury residential estate where they lived with their three children. Prosecutors said Nancy wrapped Kissel‘s body in a rug and then asked four workmen on the estate to take it to the storeroom.

Her lawyer earlier told the court that on the night of Nov.2 her husband demanded sex, and when she refused, he beat her and then left -- the last time she saw him alive. The defense has offered no explanation for why his body was found in a carpet.

The trial is expected to last until late August.

From the Chinese-language media:

• (Ming Pao) 
  (in translation)  Robert Kissel who has the image among his good friends and domestic helper as the loving father who did not touch alcohol and had no bad habit had that image completely overturned by his wife of 14 years.  The defendant Nancy Ann Kissel pointed out that when she got married, she knew that Robert Kissel had a cocaine habit.  When Robert was studying for his Masters degree and then working, he used cocaine to reduce the pressure.  He also had the habit of imbibing strong alcohol.  But he set up barriers around her own personal interests and preferred her to stay at home day and night.
   
  The defendant said that she was born in the state of Michican, studied business and finance in college in Minnesota, and then studied art design in New York City after graduation.  In 1987, she met Robert Kissel during vacation.  They moved in together and got married two years later.
   
  According to the defendant's recollection, their first two years of marriage was blissful.  Robert Kissel was working in his father's company, but he always wanted to get into finance.  So he became a full-time student to get a master's degree in finance.  Since Robert was not working, she had to take three jobs to earn money.  After graduation, Robert entered the finance field and became successful at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.  This meant that he was often travelling on business or had to bring work home.
   
  On the other hand, after giving birth to their eldest daughter in 1994, Nancy Kissel had to abandon her own career in order to take care of the children.  In 1997, one year after the family moved to Hong Kong, the defendant acted as a photographer for the Hong Kong International School which her daughter attended and then happily volunteered to help the school plan the fund-raising carnival.  But Robert was not happy and complained that she was often away from home.  Yet, when she volunteered for the Jewish synagogue, he was supportive because it enhanced his reputation.
   
• (Ming Pao) 
  
  (in translation)  As the case moved into the thirty-fourth day, 41-year-old Nancy Ann Kissel took the stand in her own defense.  Wearing black clothes, told about how she met her husband at first but when she got to how her husband physically assaulted her, she was moved to shed tears.
   
  The defendant pointed out that when she gave birth to their eldest daughter in 1994, her body weight increased to 150 pounds.  At the time, her husband encouraged her to lose weight and found all sorts of strange techniques to reduce weight.  She said that her breasts began to sag after giving birth, which made her husband not like her.  So their sex lives changed as the husband began to force her to do things that she would rather not do.
   
  When she gave birth to their youngest son in October 1999, the husband became worse.  When he did not go out for work, he came home, drank alcohol and had sex with her, often in the form of oral and anal sex.  If she did not cooperate, he would pull her hair and push her head to obey, causing her physical injuries including fractured ribs and bleeding anus.  She did not tell anyone about these things because she was too ashamed.
   
  The defendant claimed to have been beaten mulitiple times by her husband.  For example, she pointed out when she was five months pregnant in 1999, her husband pointed out that her due date coincided with his business trip but he wanted her to go with him.  So he asked her to have an early delivery through induced labor.  When she refused, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her and asked her why she did not respect what he was doing for the family.  Then he pounded the wall with his fists and acted as if he was going to hit her.  Two months later, he brought the matter up again and hit him during the quarrel.
   
• (The Sun)
  
  In the murder case of Merrill Lynch managing director Robert Peter Kissel, the defendant Nancy Ann Kissel took the witness stand in her own defense.  She revealed that her husband had a cocaine habit and would become violent after taking cocaine.  She told in tears that she was involuntarily forced by her husband many times to perform oral and anal sex.  If she refused, she was violently assaulted including fracturing her ribs one time.
   
  41-year-old Nancy Ann Kissel had been quite calm as she sat through the trial proceedings.  Yesterday as she recounted how she was violently treated by her husband, she broke down in tears many times.  She said that even before she came to Hong Kong, her body shape had changed and her breasts sagged.  So her husband began to look for 'alternate' forms of sexual conduct.  If she declined, her husband would pull her hair and throw her on the bed, causing her bruises all over the body.  One time, she bled from violent anal sex.  But the more she struggled, the more violent her husband got.  If she cooperated, the act would finish sooner.
   
  The defendant said that she has never told any friends about being forced to perform sex by husband.  Apart from these violent sexual acts, her husband was also occasionally physically violent.  When she was five months pregnant, she quarreled with her husband and he punched the wall so hard that the paint fell off.  When she was 7-1/2 months pregnant, her husband realized that he would be on an overseas business trip when she was due to deliver.  He wanted her to have an early delivery through induced labor; when she refused, he punched her.
   
  According to the description of the defendant, she and Robert Kissel met in 1987 and got married in 1989.  Robert was helping to mind his father's business in New Jersey.  After they got married, he decided to enter a master's program in finance in New York City.  During his two years of study, his wife worked as a waitress to earn money.  At that time, Robert acquired a cocaine habit and even transacted with the dealer in their home.  The wife asked him to quite, but he ignored her.  Whenever he took cocaine, he became violent and quarrelsome.
   
  The defendant said that Robert graduated in 1991 and began to work in financial companies with success.  In 1994, Nancy gave birth to their first daughter and gained 40 pounds, causing her body to change shape.  Her husband began to complain and wanted her to get back to the trim shape before.  He told her to diet and said, "You can do it!"  In 1998, Robert Kissel was sent to work in Hong Kong.  Nancy became a volunteer at the school where the two daughters went, but her husband was not happy and preferred that she stayed home more.  But he approved her voluntary work at the Jewish synagogue because that would enhance their social standing.
   
• (Sing Pao)
  
  Yesterday, defendant Nancy Kissel testified that she got acquainted with Robert Kissel while traveling on vacation and the two got married in 1989.  After they got married, her husband went to study in a master's program and was not working.  So she had to become a restaurant manager to earn money.
   
  Nancy Kissel currently weight 106 pounds.  After giving birth to their eldest daughter in 1994, she gained 40 pounds to 150 pounds and it took her one year to lose the weight.  For the first time, she realized that she was no longer physically attractive to her husband and that made her feel bad.  Her husband encouraged her to lose the weight and regain her state before marriage.
   
  In 1997, she gave birth to her second daughter.  After giving birth to the two daughters, their lives underwent a drastic change.  Her husband felt that she paid too much attention to their children and they also argued over problems such as dieting.  She thought that the children was an obstacle between them.
   
  The defendant revealed that she realized that her husband and his borther have cocaine habits.  She has personally witnessed her take cocaine.  One time, a dealer friend of Robert came to their apartment with drugs and Robert paid him.  The transaction took place right over their dining table.  She said that her husband also took painkillers because of back ache.  She had tried to persuade her husband to quit the drugs without success.  When her husband took drugs, he became a completely different person who would quarrel over trivia, and even simple things like not having orange juice in the refrigerator can lead to big fights.
   
  When the defendant explained how the husband used violence, she could not help crying.  She said that when she was pregnant with their son in mid 1998, they found out that she would be due when he was on a business trip in Korea.  Her husband wanted her to have early delivery, but she refused.  When she was 5 months and 7-1/2 months pregnant, her husband assaulted her.  He claimed that he did so much of the family, but still did not get respect.
   
  The defendant said that after the daughter was born, her own body shape changed and her breasts sagged.  This displeased her husband and he began to force her to engage in certain sexual acts that she did not liked.  He forced her to engage in oral and anal sex.  The more she struggled, the longer her humiliation became.  There were bruises on her limbs, she bled after anal intercourse and she even fractured ribs after being forced to turn over.  But she thought that this was shameful and so claimed that there were football injuried when she sought treatment, and she did not disclose to anyone about the cause of her injuries.

• (Sing Tao; print edition)
  The murder trial continues yetersday and 41-year-old Nancy Kissel, the mother of two daughters and one son, recalled her sexual relationships with her husband.  She told the court that when she gave birth to her elder daughter in 1994, she gained 40 pounds.  Since her body was out of shape, her sexual relationship with her husband changed.  When their youngest son was born in 1999, the husband became very different.  When he came back from work each day, he would drink liquor and then demand sexual intercourse.  If she refused, he would pull her hair and force her to engage in oral and anal sex.  The duration of her sexual torture depended on whether she "went along."  The more she resisted, the longer the time.
   
  After they got married in 1989, she worked three jobs in order to help her husband study business administration at New York University.  At the time, she was aware that her husband was taking cocaine in order to cope with his studies.  She claimed that she witnesses a drug dealer coming to their apartment to transact with her husband.  Her husband became tense after taking drugs, and would be annoyed by trivia such as not having orange juice in the refrigerator.  When they moved from the United States to Hong Kong, Robert Kissel continued to take cocaine in order to have enough energy to deal with the financial markets in both the United States and Hong Kong.
   
  She testified that since arriving in Hong Kong in 1998, she took part in volunteer activities at the International School where her daughters were enrolled.  She emphasized that "the school was my life" but her husband was not supportive and sneered that this was a waste of time without any benefits.  On the contrary, her husband encouraged her to volunteer at the Jewish synagogue because that would elevate the reputation of their family at the synagogue.
   
  The defendant testified that when they first arrived in Hong Kong, her husband did not care about her finances.  Since 2002, he began to control her expenses, successfully reducing the number of her credit cards from four to two.  If she needed cash, she had to show the shopping list to her husband for approval.  The defense pointed out when Robert Kissel worked at Merrill Lyncy between 2000 and 2003, his bonuses were 3 million US dollars.
   
  She sobbed and said that her husband assaulted her first when she was pregnant in 1999 with their youngest son.  He was unhappy that her due date coincided with a planned business trip to South Korea and wanted her to see a doctor to induce early delivery.  They quarreled and he tried to punch her with his fist.  She ducked in time, and her husband's fist hit the wall and cracked a bone.  Later, her husband struck her in the face over the same matter.
   
  At the end of October 2001, the defendant found out that her son's belly was swollen.  She proposed to take the son to Kwong On Hospital for examination.  The husband was indffierent and told her that she was overly sensitive.  But she and the domestic helper took the son to the hospital, and then took him to the United States for treatment.  The son had been found to carry a lot of potentially toxic waste products in his body.