So far, the defense has suggested through cross-examination of prosecution witnesses that Nancy Kissel, the accused, used the metal ornament identified as the murder weapon to defend herself from attack.

Bruises found on her arms and dents in the ornament's metal base were inflicted by a baseball bat, the defense has said.

A former domestic helper for the Kissels, Maximina Macaraeg, was recalled Thursday to the stand by the defense and asked if she could identify a wooden, champagne-colored baseball bat that she referred to when she first testified June 17.

``Do you recall being asked on that day whether Mr Kissel was a baseball fan or not?'' Alexander King, senior counsel for the accused, asked.

``Yes,'' replied the maid in English.

``Do you recall telling us in your evidence [referring to a photograph] that a baseball bat was kept in the master bedroom of the apartment between the two pieces of furniture that we see in that photograph?'' he asked.

``Yes,'' Macaraeg said.

She said she remembered saying it was wooden and medium weight since she often lifted it up when vacuuming.

Following those remarks, a police exhibits officer brought out an elongated object, heavily packaged, to rest on a desk in front of the judge.

The jury was kept in suspense as the officer carefully removed several of the outer layers of plastic bubble wrapping.

``Can I ask that all the plastic bags be removed,'' said the judge, noticing that the officer seemed content with removing only the outer layers.

With the baseball bat on display, Macaraeg left her seat to inspect it.

``Are you able to recognize whether that was the baseball bat you saw kept in the master bedroom between two pieces of furniture?'' asked King.

After a brief pause, she switched languages and replied in Ilocano: ``I cannot be sure,'' she said through an interpreter.

Nancy 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 Sunday night, November 2, 2003.

The accused told a doctor and police at the time that 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 decomposing body was found in a storeroom in the Parkview residential complex November 7.

Chief prosecutor Peter Chapman sought Thursday to undermine the possible scenario of a fight by asking forensic pathologist Lau Ming-fai to confirm that closely grouped blows to the head are ``not suggestive of people moving around.''

Lau said five fatal blows to the head, inflicted by a heavy metal ornament, caused the skull to be pushed into the brain, causing severe bruising.

Lau conceded that ``there's nothing in relation to the wounds themselves'' that could show that the deceased was not moving about, ``but one has to look at the injuries as a whole,'' he said.

Considering the scenario of a stand-up, face-to-face fight, Lau thought it ``unreasonable'' that five final fatal lacerations would be inflicted in a brawl.

Although one can be knocked unconscious by a blow that does not cause skull fracture, he said he would expect bruising from such a blow and he found none.

Chapman asked whether he agreed that if Nancy Kissel had used two hands to hold the ornament to shield the blows from a baseball bat, ``she would not be able to inflict injury while defending herself.'' Lau agreed.

King suggested it was possible that the ``repeated blows to one single area on the head could be inflicted in a short period of time.''

The blows could be ``be inflicted in a frenzy - bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,'' said King.

Lau replied that ``frenzy'' was a psychiatric term and that as a pathologist, ``it was impossible to detect the mental state of the assailant.''

King noted that a paragraph in Lau's witness statement, which said that bruises on Robert Kissel's legs and thighs may have been caused by impact with another person or with hard furniture, was only inserted ``after the defense had uncovered your memo [to the Department of Justice]'' during their visit to his office in April this year.

Lau had testified he found no sign of defensive injuries or other fractures on Robert Kissel's upper limbs.

The prosecution's case is being wound up.

Also Thursday the prosecution began reading the testimony of the final listed witness, Bryna O'Shea, who gave a deposition in the United States.

She identifed herself as Nancy Kissel's ``best friend'' and a confidant of the late banker regarding the couple's marital problems.

Her testimony will continue to be read today

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albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com