A South African judge has handed down a guilty verdict in the year-long trial in the murder of former Malibu resident Gabriela Kabrins Alban. Alban’s billionaire boyfriend is now facing the potential for life in prison for the brutal killing that happened at a luxury resort in Cape Town nearly three years ago. Alban’s father, Howdy Kabrins, well known for his restaurants including the former Howdy’s Restaurant in Cross Creek, has been living in Cape Town with his wife Linda to attend all 125 days in court in the long and drawn out trial. The judge announced his verdict late on June 28. Reached by phone in South Africa, the 70-year-old Kabrins told The Malibu Times, “I’m relieved. I am trying to catch my breath.”
Earlier, the Malibu entrepreneur told a local South African publication, “I thank God for the friends I have back in the USA and all the friends I have made in South Africa who have kept us all strong and supported us every inch of the way to get justice.”
Although the judge in the case found the defendant Diego Novella guilty of murder, the trial is not over. Sentencing has been adjourned until Aug. 7. There is no death penalty in South Africa. Kabrins has said he wishes his only daughter’s killer “a long life in prison.”