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HK ‘Milkshake Murderer’ loses appeal of conviction

A US woman sentenced to life in jail in Hong Kong for bludgeoning her banker husband to death after lacing his milkshake with sedatives lost her appeal against conviction yesterday.

Nancy Kissel, dubbed the “Milkshake Murderer,” was found guilty of killing her husband in 2003 after drugging him with a cocktail of sedatives in their luxury apartment in one of Hong Kong’s most sensational cases.

In turning down Kissel’s appeal against her conviction and life sentence, Michael Stuart-Moore, the Court of Appeal judge who presided over the case, said there was “no merit” in any of her grounds for appeal.

“This was as cogent a case of murder as might be imagined,” said the written ruling of three judges, handed down by Stuart-Moore.

The crime, which unravelled as a heady mix of adultery, domestic violence, spying, greed and enormous wealth, gripped the Hong Kong and shocked the expatriate community.

Kissel, 44, sat motionless for a few seconds after hearing the verdict. She needed the support of four security guards to prevent her from falling as she was finally escorted from the court.

Her mother Jean McGlothlin, flanked by a small group of Kissel’s friends, said her daughter would appeal the ruling, this time to the city’s highest court, in her ongoing battle for justice.

“We are very disappointed,” McGlothlin told reporters outside court. “We know that this case has merit. The sentence is not justified by the evidence ... The Court of Final Appeal is going to look at it with integrity and that’s the way it should be discussed.”

Kissel killed her high-flying husband Robert by adding the sedatives to his milkshake and then bludgeoning him to death with a family ornament.

The mother-of-three disposed of the investment banker’s body by rolling it up in an old carpet, before hiring workmen to carry it to her storage room.

She continued to sleep in the same room as the body for several nights, according to court testimony.

Kissel’s defense team painted her as a loving but long-suffering wife who had been subjected to regular sexual and physical abuse by a husband who abused cocaine and alcohol, and spied on her e-mails using special computer software.
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