‘Killer’ blames his drug use
Guatemalan murder-accused Diego Novella will argue diminished responsibility for the 2015 murder of his 39-year-old American girlfriend, Gabriela Kabrins Alban.
On the first day of his trial in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, he pleaded not guilty. In his plea statement, he said he had been in an abnormal mental state from taking hallucinogenic substances. These were listed as sceletium, dronabinol (a prescription drug) and cannabis. “These substances had a disinhibiting effect on me, causing me to respond in an abnormal manner,” he claimed.
Novella was arrested on July 29, 2015, after staff found Alban’s body in their room at the Camps Bay Retreat Boutique Hotel. Novella was not there, but he was arrested later that day.
He was sent for psychiatric evaluation at Valkenberg Hospital where a panel found he had diminished responsibility from drug intoxication. He was, however, found to have criminal capacity and deemed fit to stand trial.
His statement revealed he had been romantically involved with Alban since 2013. He said she had lived with him in Guatemala for a year in 2014 and they travelled together often.
In April 2015, Novella went to SA and checked in to a “cleansing clinic” in Magaliesberg. While there, he arrangemed for Alban to come to the retreat to get treatment for Lyme disease. On July 10, 2015, she arrived in SA and checked into the Camps Bay hotel. Novella joined her the next day.
He claimed they were in love and that he was devastated by her death. “I have up until now spent many hours of agony and trauma thinking about her,” he said.
In his admissions to the court, he confirmed that the cause of death recorded in the post-mortem report was not disputed. It stated that Alban’s body had “signs of blunt force trauma as indicated by multiple bruises on the body specifically distributed on the neck, the upper and lower limbs”. It also cited signs of blunt force trauma to the neck and evidence of manual strangulation. There was also “injury in the genital area in keeping with recent sexual penetration”.
Alban’s family flew in from America for the trial. Her mother and stepfather, Doris Weitz and Alexander Williams, and her father and stepmother, Howdy and Linda Kabrins, said they were determined to see justice done. Howdy Kabrins was due to take the stand as the first witness, but proceedings were halted to allow defence lawyer William Booth to consult with his client.
Judge Vincent Saldanha said the plea statement needed to be clearer, saying: “His primary language is Spanish. If he gets into the witness box, I don’t want a debate about what he means by ‘dis-inhibiting effect’.”
Novella is from a wealthy Guatemalan family. He was denied bail last year as he was deemed to be a flight risk. – ANA