Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, has been accused of assaulting a 20-year-old South African model, Gabriella Engels, she found at a hotel in Sandton‚ Johannesburg‚ around 9pm on Sunday night visiting the Zimbabwean president’s two sons.
“We were chilling in a hotel room‚ and they were in the room next door‚” Engels said.
“She came in and started hitting us. The front of my forehead is busted open. I’m a model and I make my money based on my looks‚” she said.
According to Gabriella Engels who suffered gashes to her forehead and scalp, she was beaten with an extension chord alongside her two friends while the two sons ran away and the Mugabe bodyguards looked on.
“What is a girl compared to a woman beating you and 10+ bodyguards standing back‚ leaving her to do this sh*t‚” she tweeted about the incident.
However after she reported the incident to the Police on Sunday Night, she was shown away by the police officer on duty‚ who told her to first seek medical attention.
Gabriella’s mother‚ Debbie‚ said they were going to the police station to open an assault case on Monday.
“When she got home I was already sleeping. She was in so much shock‚ she couldn’t tell me what happened‚” Debbie said.
“I rushed her to the hospital to get stitches and when she eventually calmed down‚ she told me she was assaulted by Mugabe’s wife‚” she said.
Garnet Basson‚ CEO of The Capital hotel group‚ where the alleged assault took place‚ said there was an incident that prompted management to ask guests to leave the hotel, as Zimbabwean news had reported before now that Grace was in South Africa for treatment following a “freak accident” in which she injured her right ankle.
“What happened in the hotel room‚ I don’t have a comment on … I can’t disclose the name. We did have guests removed from the premises due to a scenario where we thought it was not good for them to stay there.
“It was almost a forceful exit‚ but it wasn’t. It was a decent exit after about a half an hour of discussions.”
Here are more photos and tweets on the incident below;
