I lied, says accused

DIEGO NOVELLA MOVED FROM SINGLE CELL Defence lawyer left ‘gobsmacked’ by news client fabricated testimony.

The trial of Guatemalan murder-accused Diego Novella has again been stalled as a private psychiatrist will only be able to assess him today. The defence’s final arguments were due to be delivered in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on Monday but, instead, Novella told the court that he had lied when he gave his testimony.

The shocking revelation rendered his defence lawyer, William Booth, “gobsmacked” and left the state scrambling to have him assessed by a district surgeon as speedily as possible.

After his assessment, the court was told on Monday afternoon that he had had a panic attack and would need to be placed on suicide watch at Pollsmoor prison.

As a result of the suicide risk, he was switched from a single cell to a cell with 11 other people.

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 an upmarket boutique hotel in Camps Bay on July 29, 2015. She had been strangled and had suffered blunt force trauma.

Novella was arrested the same day, a few hours after hotel staff found Alban’s body. He has pleaded not guilty. In his plea statement, Novella, who lived off his wealthy