Prosecutors are yet to find out whether Diego Novella planned his girlfriend’s murder‚ despite having enlisted the skills of Israel authorities to decrypt the couple’s cellphones.

This emerged during the Guatemalan businessman’s appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He is accused of killing US marketing executing Gabriela Alban.

The prosecution is pulling out all stops to determine what happed between the lovers before the killing. Prosecutor Louise Friester-Sampson told the court earlier this month that forensic experts were poring over the data.

Depending on the information the devices yield‚ Novella could face a stiffer charge that carries a life sentence.

But on Wednesday she said the experts were still “downloading data as we speak“. The matter has been escalated to the high court in Cape Town for trial.

Novella’s lawyer‚ William Booth‚ was unfazed by the continuing forensic investigation and said he was preparing to take magistrate Grant Engel’s decision to deny Novella bail on appeal to the high court.

“On the last occasion we were told that that [the cellphones] had been sent to the authorities in Israel via the FBI in the United States‚” Booth said outside court.

“We have the indictment. There is no indication of premeditated or planned murder. The prosecutor did intimate that‚ maybe‚ the cellphone information could assist the state in that regard but that is speculation.

“Technically‚ the state could bring an application to amend the charge sheet but that is not something at this stage that is particularly bothering me.”

Novella‚ who is being held in the hospital section of Pollsmoor Prison‚ will appear in the high court on September 2‚ when he will learn his trial date.

He was arrested almost a year ago after Alban’s body was found in their room at the Camps Bay Retreat Hotel. At the time‚ allegations surfaced she was sexually abused‚ her head smeared with faeces and cocaine was found in the room.