The mother of Gabriella Engels, the 20-year-old model allegedly assaulted by Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe, gave Reuters access to photographs of Engels’ injuries taken on Sunday.
The photographs show bloody head injuries sustained by Engels, as well as a bruise on her leg, shown on Sunday and having worsened by Wednesday.
The model’s mother, Debbie, told Reuters that her daughter had received 14 stitches on her head from Sunday’s assault.
South African Police confirmed that Mugabe, the 52-year-old wife of Zimbabwe’s nonagenarian leader Robert, failed to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday relating to the allegations she attacked Engels with an electric extension chord.
Zimbabwe’s first lady has sought diplomatic immunity in South Africa, which if granted would exempt her from prosecution.
