Vexed judge adjourns murder trial

The trial of murder accused Diego Novella ground to a halt for an “indeterminate amount of time” yesterday as the court scrambled to establish the mental state of the accused.

A week ago defence lawyer William Booth was due to deliver final arguments but Novella told the court he had lied during his testimony. He was referred to a district surgeon who recommended the dosage of his medication be increased and described the incident as a panic attack.

Novella is on trial for the murder of his 39-year-old girlfriend Gabriela Kabrins Alban in 2015.

Alban’s body was discovered in the room she was sharing with Novella at a hotel in Camps Bay. She had been strangled and had suffered blunt force trauma.

Novella was arrested a few hours after hotel staff found Alban’s body.

He pleaded not guilty. In his plea statement, Novella, who is from a prominent and wealthy family in Guatemala, claimed he had been in an abnormal mental state after he took hallucinogenic substances, which “had a disinhibiting effect on me”.

Yesterday, Booth told the court he was unable to obtain “clear and concise instructions” from his client and that the private psychiatrist who has consulted with Novella twice believed he was suffering from depersonalisation and derealisation and that Novella was unfit to stand trial at present.

A visibly irritated judge Vincent Saldanha said he did not understand the conditions diagnosed in the report, adding: “This entire episode was precipitated by your client last Monday morning. Before he appeared in court he had not taken his valium.”

He adjourned proceedings for the psychiatrist to explain his report fully. – ANA