Novella’s trial stopped over mental state
THE Trial of Guatemalan murder accused Diego Novella ground to a halt as the court scrambled to establish the mental state of the accused.
A week ago, his defence lawyer William Booth was due to deliver final arguments, but in a shocking revelation Novella told the court he had lied during his testimony.
He was immediately referred to a district surgeon at Victoria Hospital who recommended his medication be increased and described the incident as a panic attack. Novella was also placed on suicide watch.
Booth told the court he could not take instructions from his client and requested the assessment of a private psychiatrist.
Novella is on trial for the murder of his 39-year-old American marketing executive 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 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, from a prominent family in Guatemala, claimed he had been in an abnormal mental state after he took hallucinogenic substances sceletium, dronabinol (a prescription drug sometimes taken to treat cancer) and cannabis.
“These substances had a disinhibiting effect on me, causing me to respond in an abnormal manner,” Novella told the court.
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. – African News Agency (ANA)