Novella not capable of such brutality, says sister
THE sister of convicted murderer Diego Novella told the Western Cape High Court her brother was an “incredible human being” who’s sensitive, caring and respectful.
Testifying in mitigation of sentence yesterday, Priscilla Dougherty said as a child her brother had always been “full of energy, always happy, always smiling”. Novella has been found guilty of the July 2015 murder of his American marketing executive girlfriend, Gabriela Kabrins Alban, in their room at the luxury Camps Bay Retreat boutique hotel. Alban was strangled and suffered blunt force trauma.
State prosecutor Louise Friester-Sampson said the assault was so violent it left Alban brain damaged.
Her eyes were so swollen they had to be pried open during the post-mortem exam.
But Novella’s sister insisted her brother was not capable of such brutality and had never displayed violent tendencies.
“What happened that day has nothing to do with the Diego I’ve known all my life,” she said. She described their upbringing as privileged, stable and family oriented.
Her brother, one of seven siblings, had a close relationship with everyone in the family. But everything changed when Paul, a brother he was particularly close to, died in a car accident at the age of 23.
Dougherty struggled to hold back tears as she told the court her brother was declared brain dead, but kept alive for two days so Diego and her twin brother Lucas could return from boarding school in the US to say goodbye.
“I think part of Diego died with Paul. My whole family died after that. My whole family was never the same.
“We were all shocked, especially, Diego and Lucas.
“Paul was always looking after them,” she said.
During cross-examination, Friester-Sampson said in this case the victim’s family did not have the chance to say goodbye and took Dougherty through the disturbing details of her brother’s assault on Alban.
“Your brother defecated on her, covered her in chips and sweets. Her pants were down below her knees,” she said.
Alban’s family, her father Howdy Kabrins and stepmother Linda, were visibly distressed as the murder was again detailed in court while, Dougherty insisted that was not the brother she knew.
“I love him deeply, I respect him and I’m very hurt about it all,” she said.
During his trial, he argued diminished capacity as a result of psychoactive effects of substances he had ingested that included sceletium and cannabis oil and claimed he thought Alban was a “demonic entity”.
But Judge Vincent Saldanha rejected this and said Novella was able to distinguish between right and wrong.