The 52-year-old wife of Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe failed to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday relating to allegations she attacked Gabriella Engels with an electric extension cord.
According to police, Grace Mugabe had initially agreed to hand herself over but never showed up.
Engels' mother Debbie said her daughter received 14 stitches on her head after Sunday's assault and demanded Mugabe face justice.
President Mugabe jetted into South Africa last night, arriving early for the SADC summit in Pretoria, fuelling speculation that he will be dealing with the aftermath of the furore surrounding his wife.
With Grace seeking exemption from prosecution, what is diplomatic immunity?
What is diplomatic immunity and who gets it?
Diplomatic immunity is the protection from arrest, lawsuit or prosecution that is afforded to visiting heads of state, foreign politicians and diplomats.
It is a privilege that is also extended to their family and/or those accompanying them.
The current international diplomatic immunity was structured as international law at the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in 1961.
Diplomatic relations between countries
During periods of difficulties and armed conflict, diplomatic immunity allows for the maintenance of government interaction.
Can it be revoked?
It can be revoked by the person’s country of origin dependent on the crime that the person has committed or is a witness to.
Another possibility is for the person to face prosecution in their home country.
Some incidents the suspect has been involved in:
• JANUARY 2006
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife were at the Garden City Hospital in Johannesburg for a medical check-up. They were greeted by protesters picketing outside the clinic to show their anger that the president had destroyed the healthcare system in his own country.
Journalist Mandy Wiener recalls trying to get comment from Grace Mugabe as she left the clinic. The first lady allegedly wagged her finger at Wiener and threatened her: "I will beat you."
• JANUARY 2009
A British photographer alleged that Grace Mugabe repeatedly punched him on 15 January 2009, after he tried to take pictures of her as she left a hotel in Singapore.
Richard Jones claimed the Zimbabwean first lady flew into a rage when she saw him outside the five-star Kowloon Shangri-la Hotel where she was staying. Mugabe allegedly ordered her bodyguards to attack Jones, and then joined in the assault.
Jones reportedly suffered numerous bruises, cuts and abrasions to his head and face, caused by Mugabe’s diamond rings. Security officers intervened to stop the assault.
He made a statement to police but Mugabe was never charged due to her diplomatic immunity.
• MARCH 2017
Riot police, reportedly acting on behalf of Grace Mugabe, knocked down homes on farms she had decided to take over. Human Rights Watch said villagers who tried to stop the destruction of their homes were beaten.
• JULY 2017
Mugabe was detained briefly at a hospital in Singapore after she was involved in yet another fracas with journalists.
Her husband had flown there for medical treatment.
Upon arrival, several journalists were waiting at their hotel. The Zimbabwean first lady is said to have flown into a rage, charging at the journalists, destroying some of their equipment and throwing the cellphone of one reporter into a pond.
She was not charged due to diplomatic immunity.
• 13 AUGUST 2017
Twenty-year-old Johannesburg model Gabriella Engels opened a case of assault against Grace Mugabe. She said the first lady attacked her on Sunday, August 13, after she had gone to see the Mugabe sons Robert and Chatunga at a hotel in Sandton.
When Mugabe saw Engels in the company of her sons, she allegedly attacked the young woman using an extension cord.
Engels suffered lacerations and bruises.
Grace Mugabe is not the only one in the family who has a history of physical altercations.
In July 2017, The Independent in Harare reported that Mugabe’s sons Robert and Chatunga Bellarmine were evicted from their luxury flat in Sandton, Johannesburg, after a brawl that saw a security guard’s leg and arm being broken.
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