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Polly Hui

She gave up keys once she knew of search warrants, he says

Nancy Kissel denied having rented a storeroom at her luxury estate, Parkview,  where she allegedly hid the body of her American banker husband rolled up in a carpet, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

Yuen Shing-kit, formerly chief inspector of crime at Western District police station, said Kissel answered 'no' when his teammate and officer in charge of the case, See Kwok-tak, asked if she had rented a storeroom in the Tai Tam residential complex shortly after 10pm on November 6, 2003.

Inspector See then told Kissel the police had confirmed with Parkview's management on an earlier visit on the same day that she had rented a storeroom and asked if she had the key, he told the court.

The accused said no again and asked to talk in private to her father, Ira Keeshin, who arrived a day before from Chicago according to immigration records.

Mr Yuen said Mr Keeshin suddenly jumped up with his palms on both sides of his head, saying 'oh my God, I don't believe it' a few times while walking towards the officers.

'At that time, I looked at Mrs Kissel. I saw her sobbing ... shuddering more severely than the first time [when we entered the flat],' Mr Yuen said. 'I sensed something unusual.'

The accused eventually handed over three keys to the officers after they told her father they had search warrants, the prosecution witness said.

He then invited Kissel to go to the storeroom with his team. 'She refused to go and said she would never go there,' he said.

Mr Yuen said he saw a big roll of carpet covered by a plastic sheet, a bag of golf clubs and some furniture when his team entered the storeroom.

'I smelt a strong smell, [which] according to my experience was [from] a dead body,' he said.

A pathologist cut open the wrappings of the carpet and inserted his hand into the roll and confirmed he could feel a human head at 2.15am on November 7, 2003.

Kissel, 40, is accused of drugging and bludgeoning her husband to death on or around November 2 before wrapping his body in an old carpet. She has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Alexander King SC, for the defence, argued yesterday that Mr Keeshin said 'oh my God, it can't be' instead of 'oh my God, I don't believe it'. He also suggested that Mr Yuen had told Mr Keeshin 'I have children as well' in a show of sympathy after telling him 'I am fairly confident we know what happened'. But the prosecution witness said that was not the case.

Mr King also argued that by the time police arrived at the front door of the apartment, they had already known they were investigating a murder, rather than a missing person case, and that Kissel was a suspect.

He said police had already acquired information from David Noh, a colleague and close friend of the deceased, about a large, smelly carpet in the storeroom when he reported the banker was missing to the Western District police station at about 4pm on November 6.

The court also heard yesterday  that the warrants issued by the magistrate had mentioned an investigation of a potential murder.

Mr Yuen said 'correct' when the defence counsel asked him to confirm that his team had 'at no time' cautioned the defendant while they were in her apartment on November 6.

But he justified the failure to do so by arguing that murder was only one of a number of possibilities he had in mind at the time.

The case continues before Mr Justice Michael Lunn on Monday.



Kissel denied she rented storeroom, officer tells court