Mugabe’s wife ‘split model’s head open in hotel attack’
GRACE MUGABE, Zimbabwe’s first lady, could face legal action after allegedly beating up and injuring a young woman who was at a party with Mrs Mugabe’s two sons in South Africa.
Gabriella Engels, 20, posted pictures on social media of a wound in her head, which she said was caused by the wife of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, during the confrontation on Sunday night. She said she would take Mrs Mugabe to court.
Mrs Mugabe, 52, had been in South Africa for medical treatment and returned home to Harare on Saturday – only to fly back to Johannesburg 24 hours later.
Bulawayo 24, a Zimbabwe news site, claimed the country’s first lady attacked Ms Engel with an extension cord after finding her in a hotel with her sons, Robert Jr, 25, and Chatunga, 21. Both sons were allegedly unsteady on their feet after a long party.
Ms Engels claimed on Twitter that Mrs Mugabe attacked her while her guards looked on and did nothing to help her. “What is a girl compared to a woman beating you and 10+ bodyguards standing back leaving her to do this s---,” she wrote. “She split my head open in three places with an extension cord and used the plug to hit me.”
Ms Engels’s mother, Debbie Engels, said via social media that she was going to the police to lay charges of assault against Mrs Mugabe.
Mrs Mugabe’s spokesman has not commented on the incident.
The Mugabe sons used to live in Dubai in a palatial house rented by their parents, but had to leave suddenly, allegedly in connection with incidents involving drug or alcohol abuse. They are studying in Johannesburg and are well known at various luxury nightspots, where they are reportedly generous with their cash.
Both were recently evicted from their luxury Johannesburg apartment after they were caught up in a drunken brawl in which a security guard was injured.
Garnet Basson, CEO of the Capital Hotel group, declined to name Mrs Mugabe but confirmed that guests were asked to leave a hotel after an “incident.”
“We did have the guests removed from the premises due to a scenario where we thought it was not good for them to stay there,” he said.