A heavy metal ornament - alleged to have been the murder weapon - was also carried into court for instrument expert Dr Wong Koon-hung to identify and explain how the 3.714kg object could have been detached into three pieces.

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

She told a doctor and the police at the time that her husband had been drunk and had assaulted her after she refused him sex, before leaving their home.

She denies the murder charge and is out on bail.

The banker's decomposing body, wrapped up in a carpet, was discovered in a storeroom in the Parkview residential complex in the early hours of November 7.

Instruments seized from the Parkview residential complex were delivered to Wong for examination on November 8.

Wong told the court that the ends of the blue tape found wrapped around the carpet could be fitted to the ends of blue tape found in a plastic bag seized from the living room of the Kissels' apartment.

Taking out the blue tapes from their exhibit bags, Wong re-joined the ends to show they were a perfect match.

Jurors, lawyers and the judge then passed the desk on which the tape lay to examine it.

Wong also demonstrated how the metal base with protruding nails and two figurines could be re-attached to form a single metal ornament.

One larger figurine could be seen sitting with legs astride facing the smaller figurine, with legs close together.

However, even when re-attached, Wong said the ornament would have looked different in its original form. ``An external force has been applied to the figurines causing the legs to be bent or arched,'' he said.

He said the legs should lie flat on the base but, because of an external force, the figurines had become deformed.

``A small child of five years old would not have the strength to cause such a disfigurement, but an adult [with significant force] would certainly be able to do that,'' he said.

Senior assistant director of public prosecutions, Peter Chapman, read out a written statement of forensic scientist Billy Leung, who testified that the white powder he was asked to examine consisted mainly of sodium carbonates often found in detergents.

Government DNA-typing expert Dr Pang Chi-ming testified it was ``probable'' that the DNA which was found on the blue tape belonged to both the deceased and the defendant.

The DNA found on a white rope used to secure the carpet belonged to three possible individuals, one of whom could be the defendant.

Pang said he could find no traces of semen in a penile swab taken from the body of the deceased.

Blood found on the metal ornament also contained DNA ``probably from the deceased,'' with a one chance in 429 billion that it belonged to someone else, he said.

The trial, before Justice Michael Lunn, continues.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com