Nancy Kissel, 40, who has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail, is accused of drugging and beating Robert Kissel to death on November 2, 2003, before wrapping his body in a carpet and stashing the corpse in a store room at the luxury Parkview building in Tai Tam.

The prosecution alleges that Nancy Kissel served her husband a cocktail of drugs in a pink milkshake, leaving him unconscious and defenseless as she bludgeoned him to death with a metal figurine.

The two were married in the United States in 1989 and arrived in Hong Kong in 1997 with their three children.

Family, friends and neighbors are expected to testify to the deterioration of their marriage beginning in late 2002, but in cross-examination Thursday,

Gary Plowman, senior counsel for Nancy Kissel, suggested to Robert Kissel's sister Jane Clayton that she may not have been as clear about the state of his marriage as she believed.

He told Clayton, a prosecution witness, that her brother had lied to her when he said his wife was prone to disrupting family holidays by returning home without explanation.

According to Clayton, Nancy Kissel left a skiing holiday in 2002 without saying goodbye to the family and returned to Hong Kong with her young son.

Clayton said her brother had told her he had no idea why his wife had left. Plowman suggested that Robert Kissel had done the same thing once before in Bali, Indonesia.

He said that according to their travel documents, it was Robert Kissel who returned early from Bali on October 5, 1998, and that Nancy Kissel and her children came back two days later.

Plowman also told Clayton that in November 2001 Nancy Kissel took her youngest son to the United States to be treated for a stomach and bowel illness.

That December, Robert Kissel and the two older daughters went skiing, leaving the wife and young son, who was suffering from ``a pretty nasty illness,'' to spend Christmas alone. The son was two at the time.

Plowman asked Clayton if she thought it unusual for her brother not to want to spend Christmas with his wife.

She replied, ``Yes, but we're Jewish. [Christmas] is not a big deal.''

Plowman also asked if Robert had ever mentioned that his wife had been depressed or offered any explanation as to why she was acting ``distant,'' as Clayton had described it.

``Robbie didn't talk about people behind their backs,'' the sister replied.

Plowman suggested that Clayton's relationship with Nancy Kissel is only ``superficial.''

Justice Michael Lunn reminded the seven jurors that Clayton's perspective on Kissel marriage is only a reflection of her brother's views and his state of mind.

``It is not evidence that those assertions were true,'' the judge said.

Popular children's entertainer, Scott Ligertwood, from the duo Scotty and Lulu, testified Thursday, that he had received an e-mail from Nancy Kissel saying ``my husband's not well, I need to take care of things,'' at a time when the prosecution said he was already dead.

Under cross-examination, he said that he respected Nancy Kissel for her efficiency and care.

``She got things done,'' he said, and the ``end result was of a high standard.''

She made a school fair a very professional occasion and ``she was a very caring parent, very easy to deal with,'' said Ligertwood.

Robert Kisselwas a prominent American banker who held top positions at both Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch in his six years in Hong Kong.

Nancy Kissel worked as a volunteer at the children's school, Hong Kong International School.

The prosecution earlier this week told the jury that Nancy Kissel had an affair with a television repairman in the United States while her husband was working in Hong Kong during the 2003 SARS outbreak.

Clayton testified Wednesday that Nancy Kissel was named as the primary beneficiary in her brother's will.

She estimated the value of Kissel's estate to be around US$18 million (HK$140.4 million), including stocks, cash, life insurance and real estate.

The trial continues today.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com