Two figurines, which would normally be attached to a metal base to form a single ornament, were displayed Thursday on the clerk's desk and examined by the jury as they filed past.

Counsel for accused murderer Nancy Kissel was also invited to examine the alleged murder weapon, but declined.

``Very well,'' said High Court judge Michael Lunn, ``I'm going down to look at it myself.''

Although each figurine is only the size of a clenched fist, ``it's really heavy,'' testified a former domestic helper for the Kissel family.

Other blood-stained items found packed in either black bags or relocation boxes were shown to the Kissels' former domestic helper Maximina Macaraeg to identify.

She was also asked to identify the items in photographs.

Sitting sideways, with her back to the defense counsel and the accused, a visibly distressed Macaraeg glanced at the pictures only long enough to identify them.

Senior assistant director of public prosecutions Peter Chapman warned that some of the close-up pictures of the rug wrapping the decomposing body might be disturbing.

``Are you able to deal with these now?'' he asked.

She replied: ``The face of Mr Kissel - I don't want to see it.''

In the longest testimony by a witness so far, Macaraeg confirmed through the photographs that the T-shirt draped on the body of Robert Kissel was similar to the clothing he usually wore to bed or around the house. The judge had preselected the photographs before presenting them to the witness for examination.

When Chapman pointed out the stains on the master bedcover, Macaraeg said, ``I didn't see that before when I was fixing the bed.''

In between each photograph, Macaraeg held her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes.

When shown a picture of the foot of the master bed, Chapman asked, ``How is it different?''

She replied, ``It was covered by a brown cover,'' which now seemed to have been removed or cut off, said Chapman, completing the sentence.

The prosecution alleges Kissel had lain defenseless and sedated at the foot of the master bed as his wife bludgeoned him to death on the night of November 2, 2003.

Macaraeg also confirmed that the Kissel family had strawberry ice cream in the fridge that day.

Former Parkview neighbor of the Kissels, Andrew Tanzer, testified Tuesday that he and the victim had both been served milkshake by the accused that seemed to have strawberry flavoring. He said the drink resulted in him acting like a baby and waking the following morning suffering from ``something like amnesia.''

A sleeping bag that formed part of the packaging around the corpse was also identified by Macaraeg as belonging to the Kissel children.

During cross-examination, Macaraeg refused to face the defense counsel and look in the direction of the accused.

The judge said it was up to the witness where she wanted to look.

Her cross-examination will continue this afternoon.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com