Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Gabriela’s dad on a mission to see justice done
THE father of the American woman brutally murdered in her Camps Bay hotel room two years ago, vows not to leave South Africa until justice is done.
“My mission is to make sure her killer gets the maximum sentence,” he said.
Howdy Kabrins, 68, a semi-retired Californian restaurateur, has been a familiar figure in and around the Western Cape High Court since May 15, when Diego Novella went on trial, charged with the murder of his daughter.
“I’ll walk across the sun to make sure that happens. Until then I’m not leaving Cape Town.”
Kabrins flew into the Mother City a few days after the inexplicably violent July 2015 murder of his only daughter Gabriela Kabrins Alban, who had come to South Africa seeking a cure for her debilitating Lyme disease.
Since then, Kabrins has shuttled back and forth from Los Angeles and Guatamala, piecing together events leading up to Gabriela’s murder, keeping tabs on the investigation and attending Novella’s bail hearing. Once the High Court trial started in May, Kabrins made Cape Town his base, only flying back to his Malibu home once in July.
Attending the bulk of the trial – which adjourned last week after a marathon 63 days of testimony – has taken its toll financially and emotionally, not just on Kabrins, but his wife Linda and Gabriela’s mother Doris Weitz.
Nevertheless, he remains so fixed on his “mission” as he calls it, that he is not returning to spend the holidays with his family even though court is in recess until February 5.
“I’m here making sure that Diego knows that I’m standing up for my little girl,” explains Kabrins who came close to going head-to-head with the accused during his bail hearing. “I’m making sure that her presence is felt – even when the court is not sitting.”
Kabrins recalls the day he returned from playing a social tennis match with Christopher Reeve in the 80s and telling Gabriela, then just three, “Honey, I just beat Superman!”
“When Gabe was 24 she told me she had never forgotten that moment and would always remember it. So that’s what I’m doing here. I’m trying to be her Superman.”
To stay strong, Kabrins works out in a Bree Street crossfit gym, hikes up Lions Head and swims at Camps Bay.
“It keeps me sane especially when the evidence gets unbearable,” he said.
Close to tears whenever he recalls memories of his daughter, Kabrins also admits that guilt is part of his motivation for being in Cape Town.
“Maybe I could have done something to save her. I looked at a photo of her the other day and couldn’t help hearing her crying out in that hotel room, ‘Daddy help me! Help me!’ ”
One photograph in particular triggers Kabrins. It’s the last one he took of Gabriela when she flew from Los Angeles to Cape Town via Novella’s Guatamalan home.
“Gabe is in a wheelchair. That’s how frail and weak she was. It shows how vulnerable she must have been in that hotel room. Whenever I look at it I can’t help thinking that maybe I should have stopped her from flying… ”
Despite his sometimes overwhelming grief, Kabrins reveals a silver lining to his South African pilgrimage.
“Capetonians have opened their homes and hearts to me and my wife. We have met some phenomenal people and made special friends… ”
Kabrins said he has also found solace at the Camps Bay synagogue, where he has experienced a spiritual rebirth.