Judge Vincent Saldanha found that Novella‚ 44‚ murdered Gabriella Kabrins Alban‚ an American marketing executive‚ on July 29‚2015. Guatemalan Diego Novella was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his girlfriend at their hotel in Camps Bay‚ Cape Town.
Earlier‚ Alban’s mother Doris Weitz and father Howdy Kabrins left the courtroom before Saldanha described the “bizarre” crime scene.
Kabrins cried while Saldanha read evidence from a postmortem report describing debilitating injuries Alban she sustained during a brutal assault which could have lasted several minutes and even hours.
Novella‚ the beneficiary of a massive cement empire in Guatemala which is owned by his deceased mother’s family‚ murdered Alban after ingesting various psycho-hallucinogenic drugs including cannabis and sceletium‚ a substance derived from an indigenous plant.
He and Alban stayed in the Camps Bay Retreat boutique hotel during a visit to South Africa‚ and although he pleaded not guilty to murder he testified that he killed Alban‚ perceiving her at the time to be a demonic entity.
He claimed his mind was “hijacked” and that after he had a physical altercation with the demon he went to the beach and waded into the sea. He said that he thought everyone in the beach was looking at him and that at one point he looked at the sun and claimed that it looked black and was pulsating.
He claims that it was then that he knew something terrible had happened‚ something violent.
The forensic report described the scene where Alban’s body was found as being carefully orchestrated‚ with chips and sweets covering her body. Chocolates were stuffed into her battered mouth. A hair-dryer was placed between her thighs. A shirt bearing the word “Ubuntu” was placed neatly on her chest.
Novella also defecated on Alban’s head and feet and wrote the Spanish word “sorote”‚ meaning “piece of shit”‚ on a piece of paper which he placed on her forehead.
He said that he was in a state of psychopathy as a result of his intoxication. The state‚ however‚ argued that he acted out of anger after Alban called him an “idiot” and a “faggot”.
Video of what happened in court:
Source: Times Live
