Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Peter Chapman completed his opening speech to the seven-member jury Wednesday, detailing what the prosecution claims was the wife's plot to drug and murder the banker and cover up her actions with a clumsy alibi and an attempt to hide the corpse.

Nancy Kissel, 40, who is on bail, is standing trial for the murder of her husband on November 2, 2003, at their luxurious home in Parkview, Tai Tam. She has pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution says she tried to save herself by wrapping the corpse in a sleeping bag, carpet and plastic film, disposing of blood-stained items by packing them in boxes and claiming her drunken husband had assaulted her before disappearing. Her actions show the killing was premeditated, claims the prosecution, which alleges Nancy Kissel was having an affair with a TV repairman in the United States and the couple's marriage had become one of suspicion and betrayal.

The picture painted by the prosecution is one of cold calculation on the part of the accused followed by panic to cover up the crime.

``E-blaster'' spyware secretly installed on Nancy Kissel's Sony Vaio laptop by her suspicious husband, recorded that on August 28, 2003, she made an Internet search for ``Sleeping pills. Overdose medication causing heart attack. Drug overdose,'' the prosecution said.

On October 23, she made another search, this time for Rohypnol, the so-called ``date rape'' drug, and one of four sedatives and an anti-depressant found in the deceased, according to Chapman.

In the last few hours of his life, on the afternoon of Sunday, November 2, Robert Kissel was chatting with friend and neighbor Andrew Tanzer.

According to Chapman, Tanzer, who will later testify in court, said he was ``barely aware the accused had been in the apartment,'' until she emerged from the kitchen to offer them milkshakes.

After Tanzer drank the pink milkshake, he asked Nancy Kissel what was in it. She replied: ``It's a secret recipe.''

A short time later, Tanzer's wife noticed he seemed overly sleepy, said Chapman. The strange symptoms ``continued well into the evening,'' which worried Tanzer's wife.

When Tanzer awoke the next morning, he was ``confused about the events after he had drunk the milkshake.''

According to the prosecution, David Noh, a close friend of Robert Kissel and a colleague at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, phoned him at 5pm that Sunday to remind him of a conference call later that night.

During that conversation, Robert Kissel was vague, ``incoherent, tired and sleepy,'' said Chapman. ``David Noh never spoke to Robert Kissel again.''

At 5.58pm, telephone records suggest that the banker made one last call to his secretary, said Chapman. A call was made from his mobile phone to his wife's mobile the next morning, but ``by this time of course Robert Kissel was dead.''

Noh knew that Robert Kissel was supposed to discuss divorce proceedings with his wife - whose infidelity he had uncovered - that night. Noh tried to contact him, especially after he failed to attend the conference call, said Chapman.

Later that night, Noh got through to Nancy Kissel who said her husband had got drunk and beaten her up. Noh was not convinced, said Chapman, since he knew Robert Kissel was not in the habit of taking drugs or excessive alcohol.

The next day, November 3, Nancy Kissel instructed her domestic helpers not to clear up the master bedroom and went on a shopping spree for furniture items, cushions, bedspreads and rugs.

The court heard her Visa card invoice showed she had visited several furniture stores. She also inquired about hiring an extra storeroom in the couple's luxury Parkview building but was told the family already had one: room 15112, block 15.

She also allegedly ordered cartons from a relocation firm, which she used to pack away incriminating items.

On November 5, a domestic helper was told to clear the storeroom to create space for an old carpet and other items. When four Parkview maintenance staff came to help remove the old carpet, they could not lift it and had to use two carts to transport it to the storeroom.

According to Chapman, one of the men returned to collect the moving fee and remarked that a ``strong odor''came from the carpet.

Nancy Kissel ignored the comment, he said.

On November 6, she and her father went to the police station to report that her husband had assaulted her on the night of November 2 after she refused to have sex with him.

Barely hours after she had filed the assault claim, Noh filed a missing persons report on Robert Kissel. Later that night, police investigators discovered through Parkview management, that there had been activity regarding room 15112, block 15.

At 10.50pm, they interviewed Nancy Kissel in her apartment and she denied having an extra storeroom, said Chapman. The officers told her they intended to search the house and she responded by requesting a private conversation with her father first.

After about two minutes, he said, officers at the scene told investigators, her father cried out: ``Oh my God, I don't believe it.''

She then delivered the keys, said Chapman, and the officers opened the storeroom.

The trial continues today and is expected to last until mid-August.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com