Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe has sought diplomatic immunity in South Africa, where she is under investigation over the assault of a 20-year-old model in an upmarket hotel, South African police said on Wednesday.
Police also confirmed that Mugabe, the 52-year-old wife of Zimbabwe’s leader Robert, had failed to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday relating to allegations she attacked Gabriella Engels with an electric extension chord.
Engels’ mother Debbie told Reuters her daughter had received 14 stitches on her head from Sunday’s assault – which the mother did not witness – and demanded Mugabe face justice.
She also showed Reuters photographs taken in the hours after the incident showing gashes on Gabriella’s forehead and back of the head. Another picture, taken on Wednesday, showed a large, livid bruise on her right thigh.
“I just want justice for my daughter. It’s not about money. It’s about justice. She attacked my child for no reason,” she said.
The police statement said Harare had sought diplomatic immunity for Mugabe – which if granted would exempt her from prosecution – but said she would be “processed through the legal system”.
Reuters has not been able to verify key aspects of the assault allegations independently, and multiple requests for comment from Mugabe’s spokesman in Harare and from Information Minister Chris Mushowe went unanswered.
Mugabe, a potential successor to her 93-year-old husband, was in South Africa to receive treatment to an injured foot, according to local media reports. A Zimbabwean intelligence source told Reuters she was not traveling on a diplomatic passport.
Criminal attorney Riaan Louw said diplomatic immunity would not apply if Mugabe had indeed entered on private business.
“If she wasn’t here on official business, that rules out the possibility of diplomatic immunity,” Louw said.
