Dad's lonely quest for justice

"My daughter was murdered twice - once in a hotel room and then in the media."

Howdy Kabrins has been tormented by how his daughter Gaby Alban was dragged under by rumours of a drug-fuelled orgy that had gone wrong and ended in her death.

But last week the Cape Town High Court heard that no drugs were found in her body, not even cannabis, which has featured prominently in the trial of her boyfriend, Diego Novella.

Alban was found dead in her Camps Bay hotel room on July 29 2015, with faeces on her face and a note written in lipstick on her body saying "cerote" (Spanish for "you are a piece of sh*t").

Novella, a wealthy trust funder from Guatemala, has been charged with murder. He claims "diminished capacity" because of the substances he took.

Evidence from the toxicology reports which dispelled the rumours of a drug-fest received far less attention than the tabloid stories that made their way around the world, said Kabrins.

Novella and Alban dated for six weeks before she broke up with him after disapproving of his drug use. When she introduced him to her father, he was not impressed.

"He was aggressive - even how he drove. I had my thoughts, but I kept them to myself.

"She was my baby girl, she will always be my baby girl. I just want to go back in time and protect her. This has torn me in half."

In the years before her death, Alban's ill-health had become her heaviest burden.

At first she was incorrectly diagnosed with Addison's disease and put on the wrong medication.

It later became clear she had Lyme disease, a debilitating bacterial illness caused by ticks found on deer.

Said Kabrins: "My daughter would describe waking up as if she had slept in a box or a suitcase, her body aching as she slowly tried to stretch out.

"She was taken over by her lack of energy and anxiety attacks."

He said the disease made her "very vulnerable", but she wanted to have children and this might have clouded her judgment about Novella.

When she arrived in Cape Town to meet him, she couldn't find him and he didn't call her.

When he finally arrived at the hotel where she was staying, he told the reception: "I am here to see my mother."

The two travelled to Rome for a few days. She was killed shortly after their return to South Africa.

Kabrins said he did not believe Novella was on drugs or that drug addiction explained his alleged behaviour.

His daughter's passport was not found, her iPad had been stamped on several times, and her phone was found in the microwave.

He was "chilled" by the note, which had been so "neatly" placed on her chest, in such a scene of chaos.

"I originally had one job - to see the man on trial going to prison with no possibility of parole. But now I have two - getting justice and getting the dignity of my daughter's name back," the father said.