Cape Town - An absent magistrate and an absent accused meant that the case against murder accused Guatemalan Diego Novella could not get underway in the Cape Town Magistrate’s court on Monday morning, and will likely only proceed in the afternoon.
Novella was due to appear in court 16 but was not brought up from the holding cells and Magistrate Grant Engel was in another courtroom handling postponements.
Criminal lawyer William Booth, who is defending Novella for the alleged murder of his American girlfriend, also said he had to attend to another matter in the Western Cape High Court.
Novella was arrested in July after allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering Gabriela Kabrins Alban during a drug-fuelled orgy at their five-star boutique hotel in Camps Bay.
Novella was allegedly found wandering around Camps Bay beach semi-naked.
It has been widely reported that a large amount of cocaine and a bloodied curling iron were found at the scene, but this has yet to be confirmed in court.
The case has been dogged by delays and the defence’s request to have the accused placed under psychiatric observation for 30 days has also not yet been met.
Despite the magistrate referring Novella in August to Valkenberg Psychiatric hospital for 30 days observation, he remains far down a lengthy waiting list.
Booth told the African News Agency on Monday that Novella was about 67th or 68th on the waiting list.
In the meantime Novella is being held in the hospital section of Pollsmoor prison.
The case requires a Spanish interpreter to translate for Novella.
Marta Behar had been interpreting in courts for 25 years but stopped two years ago. However, she was asked to come back specifically for this case because of the seriousness of the offence.
Behar said she was phoned three times on Monday morning by the court to make sure she arrived on time, but despite her punctuality would now have to wait several hours before the accused appeared.
She lamented the “lack of acknowledgement and lack of recognition for interpreters”.
A court official advised her to take the next few hours “to go shopping” but Behar dismissed him, saying she was far too busy.
ANA
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