International
Mugabe’s wife assaults model, charged to court in South Africa
A day after allegedly attacking a South African model, Gabriella Engels, 20, with an extension cord, wounding her forehead and the back of her head for hanging out with her sons in a Johannesburg hotel, Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace Mugabe, has been charged to court.
Reports say Grace turned herself in when she went to a police station on Tuesday to report the case and will appear in a South African court on Tuesday after manhandling the model.
According to reports, Grace allegedly arrived with bodyguards at the hotel on Sunday and accused Engels of living with her sons, Robert and Chatunga, both in their 20s, who are based in the city.
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“We were chilling in a hotel room, and [the sons] were in the room next door. She came in and started hitting us,” Engels, a model, was quoted as saying by the TimesLIVE website.
“The front of my forehead is busted open. I’m a model and I make my money based on my looks.”
South Africa’s foreign affairs spokesman Clayson Monyela said Mugabe’s trip was “a private visit so government cannot get involved if an alleged crime is committed”.
Grace, who is 41 years younger than her husband, Robert, has two sons and a daughter with the Zimbabwean president.
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