THE distraught parents of 39-year-old American marketing executive Gabriela Kabrins Alban have travelled from the US to face her alleged killer in a Cape Town courtroom.
Diego Dougherty began his bail application in the Cape Town Regional Court yesterday, where he stands accused of murdering Kabrins in the upmarket hotel room they were sharing in Camps Bay in July last year.
Her father, Howdy Kabrins, looking exhausted and emotional, said he had arrived in Cape Town from Malibu, California, earlier yesterday.
Her mother, Doris Weitz, supported by her husband and Kabrins’ stepfather, Alexander Williams, sobbed during the lunchtime court adjournment.
Magistrate Grant Engel lifted an earlier court order banning the media from photographing the accused.
Defence lawyer William Booth read out Dougherty’s affidavit and assured the court his client would not be a flight risk should he be granted bail. He said a bail amount of R100 000 would be fair and reasonable, and also told the court Dougherty’s brother had secured a place for him to stay with a signed lease agreement.
The magistrate ordered that the address not be made public.
According to the affidavit, Dougherty was born in 1973 and has dual citizenship – Italian and Guatemalan. He entered South Africa on his Italian passport. He is one of seven siblings and had previously been referred to as Diego Novella.
His father died in April while Dougherty was incarcerated and this had affected him deeply.
Dougherty got to know Gabriela Kabrins 15 years ago while studying in the US. After her divorce, they lived together for a while in Guatemala City. His affidavit further stated that the pair had come to South Africa on holiday.
The affidavit also indicated that a psychiatrist, Professor Tuviah Zabow, had found that his mental state could “play a significant role in this case”. “The court could consider a plea of diminished responsibility on the grounds of drug intoxication.”
Dougherty further told the court that he would plead not guilty to intentionally killing Gabriela Kabrins. The bail application is set to continue. – ANA