Friday, senior government counsel Polly Wan read out the deposition of Bryna O'Shea, the deceased's ``confidante,'' that told a tale of sex, lies, love and betrayal as O'Shea recounted how what was viewed as ``the best marriage in the universe'' ended with Nancy Kissel being charged with the murder of her husband.

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 November 2, 2003. The accused told a doctor and the police 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 body was found wrapped in a carpet in a storeroom in the Parkview residential complex on November 7.

O'Shea said in her deposition that she felt the accused, whom she treated like a sister from the time they met in 1987, had become ``distant'' by 2002. After Robert Kissel began a daily correspondence with O'Shea in April, 2003, she learned of the couple's marital problems and that the deceased ``felt she was constantly lying to him.''

In September, Robert Kissel wrote an e-mail to O'Shea asking ``do you think she's trying to kill me?'' Thinking it was a joke, she said, ``If she's trying to kill you, put me in your will.''

O'Shea described the months leading up to the murder as an emotional rollercoaster for Robert as his hopes for rekindling a lost love were dashed when he discovered an alternative cellphone Nancy Kissel used to keep in contact with an alleged lover in the United States, Michael Del Priore. ``He was very frustrated and felt she was constantly lying to him,'' said O'Shea.

He then began proceedings for divorce. O'Shea thought Nancy must have known about the divorce talks since an angry Robert Kissel had e-mailed O'Shea about a mistake which led to the divorce papers being faxed to the home number rather than the office.

O'Shea knew that the deceased had planned to discuss divorce on Sunday night, November 2, 2003, the night he was allegedly murdered. O'Shea had written an e-mail wishing him luck.

When O'Shea did not receive any correspondence the next week, she made inquiries, speaking to Robert Kissel's colleague at Merill Lynch, David Noh, and the family's domestic helper on the phone. The accused left a message on her phone saying, ``We had a fight, he chased me around the room. He wanted to have sex. He beat me up.''

But O'Shea thought ``it just didn't sound right. It sounded made up.''

She said in the deposition that she had never known the deceased to be violent, although she did remember the accused mentioning an occasion when the deceased had ``slammed her against the wall'' but O'Shea was convinced Robert Kissel had never hit her.

Last Monday, a government expert in drug analysis, Dr Cheng Kok-choi, testified that he had never seen in 10 years as a toxicologist such a combination of drugs left behind in the stomach of a corpse. ``Not even in suicide cases involving multiple drugs,'' Cheng said.

He added that he found the alcohol levels to be ``insignificantly low.''

An alternative report by Professor Olaf Drummer was read out Tuesday that criticized Cheng's methods as being insufficient to show the quantity of the drugs, and how the drugs got there.

Cheng said that in general, Drummer's analysis was correct, and without knowing the quantity of the drugs there was no way to determine their effect on the deceased prior to his death.

But he said the combination of five sedatives and hypnotics would have had an enhanced effect.

On Wednesday, Professor Yeung Hok-keung from Chinese University told the court the drowsiness, slurred speech, and failure to recall events after Parkview resident Andrew Tanzer was served a milkshake at the Kissel residence and was stricken were ``consistent of the drugs found in the stomach contents of the deceased.''

Yeung had been in court in June to hear Tanzer testify that there had been a ``strange taste'' in the milkshake. Yeung said Wednesday the drugs would have dissolved in the milkshake and that the chemicals would have left a ``strange, bitter taste.'' Thursday, the defense team displayed to the jury a baseball bat, as a prologue to the upcoming exposition of the events leading up to the death of Robert Kissel, as seen through the eyes of Nancy.

Previously, the defense has suggested through cross-examination of prosecution witnesses that the accused had used the metal ornament, the alleged murder weapon, to defend herself from an attack and the bruises found on the back of the accused's upper limbs and the curvature of a metal base were inflicted by a baseball bat.

The case continues today.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com