'An intoxicated Gabriella Engels attacked me with knife': Grace Mugabe

In her disposition Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe has dismissed South African model Gabriella Engels’ version and said that she was attacked when she went to help her sons.

Part of the statement by Grace reads:

Notwithstanding her right to diplomatic immunity, it is submitted that on Sunday 13 August 2017 her sons were in trouble with a drunken young woman. She was worried about them and went to see them at their hotel suite.    Upon her arrival Ms Engels, who was intoxicated, and unhinged, attacked Dr Grace Mugabe with a knife after she was asked to leave the hotel room. Security was left with no other option but to remove Ms Engels from the hotel suite.

The statement alleges that Engels’ injuries were sustained when she had a fight with a woman at Taboo nightclub the previous night. The statement reads:

It has come to the Consulates attention that Ms Engels had been in a fight with other women at Taboo nightclub on Saturday the previous night (12 AUGUST 2017) before she went to the hotel where Dr Grace Mugabe’s children were. It is unclear whether some or all her injuries, posted on social media,were a result of a fight at Taboo nightclub, or when she was removed from the hotel because of her drunken behavior.

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She also threatened to sue Engels for attempted murder and said:

Dr Grace Mugabe denies the malicious allegations made against her by Ms Engels,and her friends,who were intoxicated at the Dr Grace Mugabe reserves the right to press charges of attempted murder against Ms Engels.

The Consulate wants the allegations against Grace Mugabe to be dismissed. However, speaking to EWN, AfriForum, an Afrikaans civil society group acting on behalf of Engels, denied both accusations and said:

Gabriella never attacked Grace Mugabe in any way and she did not participate in the fight at Taboo. It is clear that Grace Mugabe is desperately trying to escape responsibility for her own violent behaviour by using lies to falsely portray the victim in this case as the perpetrator.