Zimbabwe's first lady fails to hand herself in to South African police after facing accusations of assaulting a model.
Zimbabwe's first lady, Grace Mugabe, has returned home from South Africa after failing to turn herself in to police in Johannesburg to face charges of assaulting a model in a hotel room.
There was no immediate public comment on Tuesday on the case from Grace, 52, a possible successor to her husband President Robert Mugabe, 93, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980. But Zimbabwe government sources confirmed she had returned home.
"Yes, she is back in the country. We don't know where this issue of assault charges is coming from," a senior government official told Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.
A second official also confirmed to Reuters that Grace had returned, saying "she is around now" and accused the news media of a plot to tarnish the first family's name.
Earlier, South African police had been negotiating with Grace's lawyers to get her to turn herself in to face charges of assault, a senior police source said.
Twenty-year-old Gabriella Engels told South African news media that Grace attacked her after the model had gone to see the Mugabes' sons Robert and Chatunga at a hotel in Johannesburg's Sandton district on Sunday.
Confusion surrounded the case on Tuesday. Fikile Mbalula, South Africa's police minister, said early on Tuesday that Grace had already handed herself in to police and would appear in court shortly.
But in the afternoon, the magistrates' court where Grace had been expected to be formally charged closed for the day without her appearing.
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