Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Nancy Kissel, on trial for the murder of her Merrill Lynch & Co. investment banker husband, didn't tell her father that her husband physically or sexually assaulted her, Hong Kong's High Court heard today.

Ira Keeshin, Nancy Kissel's father, today testified that his daughter -- who has alleged that Robert Kissel had been physically and sexually assaulting her for five years -- hadn't mentioned it to him.

The prosecution has alleged Nancy Kissel drugged her millionaire husband on Nov. 2, 2003, by lacing his milkshake with sedatives and, when he was under the influence of the drugs, struck him with a heavy metal object. Robert Kissel, whose body was found wrapped in a carpet four days later in a storeroom near the couple's Tai Tam apartment, died of head injuries, a police statement said at the time.

Kissel, 41, is pleading not guilty to one charge of murder.

Today the court heard Nancy Kissel called her father in the U.S., a day after Robert Kissel was killed and told him she had been ``badly beaten'' by her husband the night before, Keeshin said. He said Nancy told her Robert then left the apartment.

``That's the first time you heard such allegation from Nancy?'' Prosecutor Peter Chapman asked.

Keeshin said: ``Correct.''

Nancy Kissel told the court during cross-examination on Aug. 4 that she accepted she killed her husband. She said the pair had a fight about getting a divorce and she threw a metal ornament at him when he came at her swinging a baseball bat and threatening to kill her.

Body Found

Robert Kissel wanted a divorce because he suspected his wife of having an affair, Prosecutor Peter Chapman said in his opening statement on June 7.

Keeshin came to Hong Kong two days before Robert Kissel's body was found. He went to a police station with Nancy Kissel on Nov. 6 to report an assault against her by Robert Kissel.

Today, Keeshin said he only realized Robert Kissel was dead when the police came up to Kissel's apartment. They told him that they knew where his son-in-law was and asked for a key to the storeroom where the body was found.

Merrill Lynch hired Robert Kissel from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2000 to head its distressed assets business in Asia outside Japan. He was a vice president in Goldman's Asian special situations group, helping the firm become one of the biggest investors in bad debt in the region.

The case is HKSAR v. Nancy Ann Kissel, indictment no. HCCC113/2004 in the Court of First Instance of the High Court. The trial continues tomorrow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Clare Cheung in Hong Kong at scheung4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 17, 2005 07:03 EDT