Friend believes defendant kept assaults to herself for fear of becoming topic of discussion among expatriates
Nancy Kissel did not tell her best friends in her luxury Parkview estate about alleged physical and sexual assaults by her husband because the expatriate community there was 'very gossipy', the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.
As the defence case entered its third week, Kissel's friends testified one by one, describing her as a devoted mother of three who spent a lot of time doing volunteer work for the Hong Kong International School to be near her children.
Kissel, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering top Merrill Lynch banker Robert Peter Kissel in their Parkview flat on November 2, 2003. But she has admitted killing her husband, whose body was found in a storeroom at their estate.
In cross-examination yesterday, Geertruida Samra, one of Kissel's best friends and also a Parkview resident, told prosecutor Peter Chapman that Kissel had never told her she was seeing a doctor, Annabelle Dytham, and psychiatrist, Desmond Fung, between August and October 2003. Nor did she know Kissel was prescribed hypnotics and painkillers - Rohypnol, Lorivan, amitriptyline and Stilnox - during those visits.
'I know she had sleeping problems, but didn't know she went to see any doctor,' she said, adding later that she saw her often looking tired when sending her children to the school bus.
Ms Samra said Kissel never told her she had attempted suicide and had developed a sexual relationship with TV repairman Michael Del Priore during her stay in Vermont in the summer of 2003.
