Grace Mugabe never surrendered

A South African police spokesman has said that a suspect – believed to be Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe – who has been accused of assaulting a model, has not handed herself in yet, reports the BBC’s Karen Schoonbee from Johannesburg.

They were in negotiations with her to hand herself in but that has not materialised, the spokesman added.

He says the police have not yet finalized their investigation so they won’t be making arrests yet, BBC reports.

Earlier, South Africa’s Police Mnster Fikile Mbalula said Mrs Mugabe had handed herself over to police, and was due to appear in court.

“The minister learned later that it just didn’t materalise as it was supposed to,” a police spokesman was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

South African model Gabriella Engels, 20, has described to local media how Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe, 52, allegedly assaulted her at a hotel on Sunday.

In a phone interview for South Africa’s News24 news site, she said:

When Grace entered I had no idea who she was. She walked in with an extension cord and just started beating me with it.

She flipped and just kept beating me with the plug, Over and over. I had no idea what was going on. I was surprised… I needed to crawl out of the room before I could run away.

Her 10 bodyguards just stood there watching, no-one did anything, no-one tried to help me.

There was blood everywhere, Over my arms, in my hair, everywhere.”