The court was told that Nancy Kissel had searched for Rohypnol on the Internet October 23, 2003, because she was prescribed it earlier that morning and did not know what it was.

Nancy Kissel, 41, said that she went to see a ``Dr Fung,'' a psychiatrist, at the end of August because she was physically and mentally exhausted due to the ``inconsistency of not knowing'' when the sexual abuse would occur and having an ``on-guard feeling all the time.''

She said she was prescribed Lorivan, Stilnox and Amitryptaline - three of the five sedatives found in her husband's body.

In October, she said she saw Dr Annabel Dythin, a friend, and one of the first people she met in Hong Kong when she needed a doctor for her children.

``I just wanted to talk to her as a woman,'' Kissel said.

She told Dythin ``what Rob was doing, physically and sexually. And that, altogether, my life was pretty miserable.''

Glancing over her shoulder to see her notes, the accused saw that the doctor had written ``alleged assault,'' Kissel said.

She was prescribed Rohypnol, which the accused looked up on the Internet when she returned home because she did not know what it was.

Kissel is accused of murdering her husband on November 2, 2003. She denies the charge.

The accused spoke of marriage-counseling sessions, after which the banker blamed her for wasting time and money by ``not listening,'' and then violently sodomizing her to encourage her to ``show more respect.''

He told her how much the sessions were costing and asked what she was contributing to the marriage, before sexually abusing her again.

On the second occasion at counseling, she told the court that she had told him: ``I'm done. I want a divorce.'' The banker stormed out of the session, she said, and returned home around two o'clock the next morning, drunk and angry.

``He came in (to the bedroom) and started yelling at me. He said: `Who do you think you are, asking for a divorce like that? You'll never divorce me. If anyone's doing the divorcing around here, it'll be me.'

``He wanted to make sure I was listening properly. He made the money. He called the shots. Not me. He wanted to make it understood.''

Then, it was the same sexual abuse, ``over and over again,'' with her husband saying ``how I needed to show respect and that he was in control. He did what he wanted.''

Kissel will continue to give her testimony before Justice Michael Lunn today.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com