From the archives: Grace Mugabe’s alleged assault an echo of 2009 Hong Kong incident
Diplomatic immunity saved Zimbabwean first lady from standing trial after photographer was attacked in the city
Grace Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, was last week accused of assaulting 20-year-old model Gabriella Engels, who had been socialising with Mugabe’s sons in a Johannesburg hotel room.
Hong Kong readers may recall the fiery first lady having been similarly accused back in 2009.
“Police are investigating an alleged assault on a newspaper photographer by the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe while she was on a shopping trip to the city,” the South China Morning Post reported on January 19 of that year. “Grace Mugabe, 43, is accused of repeatedly punching Richard Jones, chief photographer of the Hong Kong agency Sinopix, after he took pictures of her shopping in Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.”
I saw Grace Mugabe coming at me. She launched herself at me, tried to grab my camera and then directed punches at my face. She hit me at least 10 times in the face and head
Jones and a colleague were on assignment for Britain’s Sunday Times, tailing Mugabe as she left the Kowloon Shangri-La hotel to go shopping with a bodyguard and a woman friend.