The victim's father, William Kissel, and younger sister, Jane Clayton, who testified at the beginning of the trial as a prosecution witness, were both present, sitting directly behind the accused.

In an almost full courtroom, Nancy Kissel, in a simple black outfit similar to what she has been wearing throughout the trial, was sworn in. Her mother has been present throughout the trial.

For both families, the tales of drugs, alcohol, violence and sodomy have proved hard to stomach.

Quivering and taking deep breaths between forcing out each phrase, the accused said: ``I don't know how to talk about these things,'' but she was invited by her counsel, Alexander King, SC, to describe in detail a history of alleged violence and sodomy.

Both William Kissel and Clayton, shook their heads intermittently and took notes, and when the accused began recounting her husband's alleged developing interest in sodomy, Clayton left the court room, without returning.

An examination of photographs the accused had taken of children, including her own, from Hong Kong International School, and the remembrance of support she received from friends of the school when she struggled to set up home in a new land resulted in tears.

The accused told the court the teachers and parents became a support network when she first arrived in the territory. Almost immediately on arrival in Hong Kong, a place she had no connections with, in 1998, she became the ``school photographer,'' helping to revamp the school calendar with photographs of children laughing in work and play around the school. Shortly after, she became vice-president of the board of volunteer parents.

She became a ``school ambassador,'' providing an introduction to new parents in Hong Kong, helping with ``all the stuff that's not in the Goldman Sachs handbook,'' she said.

As chairwoman of the school fair, she worked 40 hours a week, and sometimes 60 closer to the event.

But her husband had a different attitude. ``He thought it was too many hours away from home,'' said the accused. She said her husband asked her to give up the official school positions.

``I needed to focus on being his wife and being at home for him,'' she said. ``The fact I wasn't getting paid for any of this bothered him tremendously, but payment wasn't why I did it.''

The victim began to ``condense'' her spending, she said, cutting her credit cards from five to one.

``He wanted a better control over what I was spending. It's easier to look at one statement than five,'' she said.

Her decorating duties for their lavish home in Vermont became subject to methodical financial scrutiny, she said. When she was able to make the required cuts in that budget, her husband gave her an extra US$300,000 (HK$2.3 million) almost ``as a reward,'' she said.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com