The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
CAPE TOWN, May 26 (ANA) – Guatemalan murder accused Diego Dougherty plans to appeal the bail decision handed down in the Cape Town Regional Court earlier this week.
Magistrate Grant Engel on Tuesday denied the 43-year-old bail, deeming him a flight risk.
Dougherty was arrested on July 29 last year after his girlfriend was murdered in the room they were sharing at a boutique hotel, the Camps Bay Retreat.
39-year-old Gabriela Kabrins Alban, a marketing executive from America, had been holidaying with him in Cape Town.
During the bail application it emerged that she suffered blunt force trauma to her face, had defensive wounds on the back of her arms and had been strangled to death.
Dougherty was assessed at Valkenberg psychiatric hospital, and was found mentally fit to stand trial. But, during his bail application, his affidavit indicated that “his mental health would play a significant role in the trial” and he may argue diminished capacity due to drug intoxication.
Dougherty’s lawyer William Booth has confirmed to African News Agency (ANA) that he will lodge an appeal in the Western Cape High Court.
“We believe the Magistrate erred in finding he was a flight risk because he comes from a well known family who have money. What happened to an accused’s right to be presumed innocent and his right to liberty? We put in place so many guarantees such as monitoring, a fixed address and house arrest. He could not go anywhere”.
Booth believes the Magistrate may have been influenced by the media attention, and the victim’s family who had flown to South Africa from the United States to attend the bail application.
During his judgement, Magistrate Engel said the accused is a wealthy person, with no family ties except for siblings in Guatemala.
He said the defence had argued that Dougherty had cooperated fully with police, but Engel pointed out that this was in fact not the case.
Towards the end of the bail application, Dougherty had said he was fluent in English and didn’t need a Spanish interpreter, despite the court having to postpone the matter a number of times to find an available interpreter.
Furthermore, Engel said that Dougherty, who “is not an uneducated man”, had forgotten the code to his cellphone.
“I find that strange. The State has had to go to extreme lengths to unlock it”.
Engel said the accused had been upfront with regards to his nationality and passports, as well as his wealth, and had “a support structure second to none”.
The defence had “to the best of its ability attempted to put guarantees in place”, but Engel found that Dougherty was nonetheless “indeed a flight risk”.
– African News Agency (ANA)
Disclaimer: This story is pulled directly from the African News Agency wire, and has not been edited by Mail & Guardian staff. The M&G does not accept responsibility for errors in any statement, quote or extract that may be contained therein.