Guatemalan jailed for killing US girlfriend at Camps Bay hotel granted leave to appeal

Diego Novella, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his US girlfriend at a boutique Cape Town hotel, has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence. 

Novella was sentenced in 2018 by the high court in Cape Town for the 2015 murder of Gabriela Kabrins Alban. Alban, an executive from New York, had come to visit Novella -who has Guatemalan and Italian citizenship.

Alban was found dead in a room they shared at the Camps Bay Retreat Hotel in July 2015. She had faeces and chips on her face, and a note written in lipstick on paper read “cerote” (Spanish for “piece of s**t”). Beside her body lay a curling iron with which she had been sexually assaulted.

Novella’s lawyer William Booth said the Supreme Court of Appeal had granted his client leave to appeal against the conviction and sentence.

In his application for leave to appeal, Novella said he was incarcerated at Brandvlei prison at Worcester in the Western Cape.

“I humbly submit that I have a reasonable prospect of success in that another court may come to another decision with regard to whether the state proved its case against me on the charge of murder beyond reasonable doubt and in addition, in that the sentence is harsh and severe,” read his affidavit.

Novella blamed his actions on “substance” abuse.

“This appeal deals with the issue of my criminal capacity at the time I allegedly caused the death of the deceased.

“It is my defence that my conative ability was impaired by the intake of certain substances. These substances inhibited my criminal capacity to the extent that I was unable to distinguish between right and wrong, and act in accordance with appreciation.”

Novella said there were compelling circumstances that “warrant a departure from the minimum sentence of 15 years' direct imprisonment”.

At the time of his arrest, Novella pleaded not guilty.

“I deny that I had the intention to murder the deceased, Gabriela Alban,” he told judge Vincent Saldanha during his high court trial. 

“At the time ... I was in an abnormal mental state as a result of the intake of hallucinogenic substances. These being cannabis, dronabinol and sceletium. These substances had a disinhibiting effect on me, causing me to respond in an abnormal manner.” 

He said after his arrest, he was sent to Valkenberg mental hospital for observation. “It was the unanimous decision of the panel that at the time of the incident, I had diminished responsibility”.

Novella said he had known Alban for “many years and was involved with her in a romantic and sexual relationship since 2013”.

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