The cross-examination of Nancy Kissel, who is accused of murdering her banker husband, was abruptly adjourned yesterday after she wailed and cried in court.
Kissel, 46, was giving evidence for a third day at her retrial at the Court of First Instance. She is accused of murdering Robert Kissel, 40, by bludgeoning him to death with a lead ornament on or about November 2, 2003. The mother of three has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, which the prosecution does not accept.
Kissel told the court yesterday that she could remember swinging a statue wildly in a struggle as her husband tried to force her to have sex. But she said she could not remember what had happened afterwards.
During questioning by prosecutor David Perry QC, Kissel suddenly broke down. 'I can see him! I can see him! I can see him!' she screamed. 'He's on the floor!'
After the outburst Mr Justice Andrew Macrae adjourned the day's proceedings half an hour early.
Earlier, the prosecution said that in the days following her husband's death, Kissel spent tens of thousands of dollars on carpets and home furnishings. Her husband's body was later found wrapped in a sleeping bag and carpet, which Kissel had workmen remove to a store room at their home in Parkview.
Nancy Kissel said yesterday she could not remember any of these details. Asked by her barrister, Edward Fitzgerald, QC, whether she recalled members of the press at her flat and Ruttonjee Hospital where she was taken after police arrived, she said she remembered 'hundreds of light flashes'.
