Camps Bay murder accused placed on suicide watch

DIEGO Novella‚ on trial for the brutal murder of his American girlfriend Gabriella Alban in a Camps Bay, Cape Town, hotel in 2015‚ has been placed on suicide watch and will be moved from a single cell to a shared cell.

The Guatemalan trust funder‚ bald‚ tattooed and in a leather jacket‚ stared ahead with empty-looking eyes as his mental health was discussed in the Cape Town High Court. An unsolicited comment in the morning from Novella that he had “lied in his testimony” had led to speculation that his mind was not quite right, since he had said nothing of the sort to his counsel‚ Advocate William Booth.

The state then called for a district surgeon to make an assessment.

After lunch‚ Louise Friester-Sampson‚ for the state‚ returned and told Judge Vincent Saldanha: “The district surgeon confirmed that [Novella] had suffered from a panic attack. “He was prescribed medication and diagnosed as a suicide risk.”

She said arrangements had been made with Pollsmoor Prison to move Novella from a single cell to a cell where there was more than one person.

Authorities at the correctional facility would also search his belongings and remove anything of risk.

The staff there would be advised to keep a close watch on him.

The district surgeon had said he was capable of understanding proceedings

and that he should be fit to stand trial by this morning.

He should also take his medication as prescribed – an increased dose of what he was on already.

Alban was found dead in her Camps Bay hotel room on July 29 2015.

Novella was later found wandering around the hotel in a daze.

Alban‚ 39‚ was found with faeces on her face and a note written in lipstick on paper, reading “cerote” (Spanish for “piece of s***”).