The Nancy Kissel Case - Part 36

• (Reuters)  Wife of murdered HK banker attempted suicide.  August 2, 2005.
• (Associated Press via Globe and Mail)  ‘Milkshake murder' accused tells of abuse.  August 2, 2005.
• (The Standard)  Kissel admits affair, attempted suicide.  By Albert Wong.  August 3, 2005.
• (SCMP; no link)  Kissel tells of suicide bid and admits affair.  By Polly Hui.  August 3, 2005.

From the Chinese-language media:

• (The Sun)  
  
  For the murder case of Merrilly Lynch Managing Director Robert Kissel, the defendant Nancy Kissel continued her testimony yesterday.  She admitted that two years ago she had an affair in the United States and had sexual intercourse with her lover on three occasions.  But she believes that her true home is in Hong Kong and her lover was just a temporary shelter.  She had not thought of getting a divorce.
   
  41-year-old Nancy Kissel said that when SARS broke out in Hong Kong in March 2003, her husband wanted her and the three children to go to Vermont temporarily.  When she tried to find schools for her children there, she had to endure pressure when people rejected her for being from an epidemic zone.  When her husband came in May, they quarreled often.  Her husband wanted to have oral and anal intercourse with her again and that made it intolerable for her.  Her husband then left in June.
   
  The defendant's lover was television repairman Michael del Priore.  Michael got acquained with her while installing television cable in her American house and he took care of all electrical installations at the house.  The two got to know each other and became friendlier.
   
  The defendant recalled at the beginning of July 2003, she decided to get a tatoo on her shoulder in Michael's company.  When they ate together that night, he mentioned that his mother was often beaten by his alcoholic father and said that her disconsolate look was just like his mother's.  The defendant felt that she could identify with that.  She thought that Michael was very honest and they became friends.  Michael wrote her often.  She and Michael had sexual intercourse on three occasions in her American home.
   
  The defendant wrote on her diary that Michael offered her unconditional love and was the person who brought her true happiness.  But she also said that Michael and her American home were only temporary shelters because her real world is the home that she built with her husband in Hong Kong.
   
  She said that she lived under the shadow of the violence and unreasonable sexual demands of her husband.  When she spoke to her dad on the telephone, she even had to hide inside the closet to avoid detection.  She said that she was desperate enough to contemplate suicide.  Because her children will find it hard to accept that their mother committed suicide, she tried to find methods on the Internet for inducing a heart attack.  When she was in the United States, she started the engine in her car in a suicide attempt, but changed her mind.  She also said that she witnessed her husband apply violence to her daughter, but when she added drugs in his drink to calm him down, there was no apparent effect.
   
• (Ming Pao)
  
  In further testimony today, the defendant said that in 2003, she and her three children went to stay in Vermont (USA) to escape the SARS epidemic.  During that period, she became acquainted with Michael del Priore which the prosecution had identified as her lover.  Michael would often bring his daughter over to play with the children.  Thereafter, they kep contact by phone and letter writing.  The defendant said that although she had sexual intercourse with Michael on three occasions, she had never wanted to leave her husband.  She was in Vermont only for vacation and get a break away from her husband.
   
  41-year-old Nancy Kissel testified that she only want to repair her relationship with her husband and never thought about leaving him.  In the past, she would come to Vermont every summer because it was 'safe' and it offered her 'comfort.'
   
  She continued to say that in 2003, their martial relationship became very tense and they quarreled almost daily.  Robert Kissel would scold the children over trivia.  On one occasion, the 9-year-old elder daughter refused to eat vegetables and left the table.  Robert chased her, grabbed her and shook her body while she cried in pain.  At the time, Nancy wanted to calm Robert down and put sleeping potion in his whiskey, but it seemed to have no effect.
   
  Furthermore, according to the prosecution's computer records, the defendant had searched for "overdose, sleeping pill" on the Internet in August 2003.  The defendant explained that she was in despair about her marriage and wanted to commit suicide.  That was why she looked for that information on the Internet.

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