Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Peter Chapman completed his cross-examination by asking why Michael Del Priore, the electrical repairman with whom she had an affair in Vermont, continued frequent telephone communication with her during the days she is alleged to have been busy covering her tracks, but ceased all communication after her arrest.

Kissel replied that she continued to confide in Del Priore about a range of issues until her arrest, but that after her arrest she had lost contact with him and many other people as well.

The prosecution had suggested Tuesday that Del Priore, who lived in a trailer park, may have considered the accused to be a ``goldmine.''

Kissel is accused of serving her husband a pink milkshake laced with sedatives which left him unconscious as she bludgeoned him to death with a heavy metal ornament on November 2, 2003. She denies the charge and is out on bail.

She has testified that there was a furious fight that night, in which she feared for her life as her husband bore down on her swinging a baseball bat, saying: ``I'm going to kill you, you bitch.''

She has accepted that she killed her husband, but said she could not recall how she came to inflict five fatal wounds to the side of his head.

Thursday, the accused said the force of the bat striking the ornament as she was protecting herself caused the curvature on the metal base, which was originally flat.

But Chapman said that, since a considerable force would have been required to cause such a curvature, the force of the strike should have ``caused the ornament to fly out of your hands, Mrs Kissel, leaving you totally defenseless.''

Kissel disagreed, saying she was holding on to the ornament with both hands ``with some strength to protect myself.''

Between November 3 and 6, the prosecution alleges, Kissel conducted a cover-up, shopping for new bed sheets to replace the blood-stained linen and ordering carton boxes to pack away incriminating items.

Closed-circuit television cameras captured her going in and out of the couple's apartment in the Parkview residential complex with a rug, a suitcase and bags of shopping.

At 7:41am on November 3, the accused telephoned Del Priore in the United States and spoke for 24 minutes.

``By this time, you're unlikely to need a sympathetic ear about an abusive husband,'' said Chapman.

Kissel said she spoke about a lot of issues during their conversations. Chapman asked: ``During this phone call, did you tell Del Priore you had solved the problem with your husband?'' She said she could not recall the telephone call.

On November 4, the day she told a doctor she was assaulted by her husband and was examined for injuries, she telephoned Del Priore six times.

In the days between the alleged murder and her arrest, Kissel packed boxes full of bloodstained items, made arrangements for a storeroom to be cleaned out and sent her domestic helpers to buy various items, including nylon rope, Chapman said.

``Eventually, the rug containing Robert Kissel's body and various items is removed from the apartment into the storeroom. While all this is going on, you're continuing to speak to Michael Del Priore,'' Chapman said.

``Yes'' she replied, according to her telephone bills.

``Since your arrest, Mrs Kissel, has Michael Del Priore come to see you?'' asked Chapman.

Kissel replied: ``No, he hasn't contacted me.''

The prosecution suggested Wednesday that Kissel's selective memory loss was a lie, since there was no mention of such a disorder in her bail applications in November, 2004, but it found its way into a report in 2005, as well as her current testimony.

In re-examination Thursday, defense counsel Alexander King SC emphasized that the bail application was heard in the context of ``mental stability'' and did not specifically touch on the issue of memory loss.

Kissel said that, since that bail hearing, she had been seen by another psychiatrist, who attended her for 60 to 70 hours and diagnosed her with ``dissociative amnesia.''

Defense witness Dr Desmond Fung, who is also testifying as an expert in psychiatry, said that when he attended the accused on August 29 and October 30 there was no evidence to suggest she was making up a story.

He said Kissel had described to him occasions where arguments ``sometimes erupted into physical violence.''

According to his notes of the visit, Kissel described her husband as an extremely powerful man, someone who had ``brought Merrill Lynch to Asia,'' and also a ``five-minute father'' since he spent so much time away from his family.

Under cross-examination, Chapman pointed out that Fung was ``totally reliant'' on what the accused told him.

The trial continues today before justice Michael Lunn.

albert.wong@singtaonewscorp.com