Grace Mugabe denies assaulting model, says model attacked her with a knife

Zimbabwe's first lady, Grace Mugabe, has denied assaulting South African model Gabriella Engels with an electric cable in a Johannesburg hotel last month, but said an "intoxicated and unhinged" Engels attacked her with a knife.

Grace gave her side of the story which countered 20-year-old Engels' version portraying herself as the victim who was intervening on behalf of her sons Chatunga and Robert Junior, who were "in trouble with a drunken young woman".

Mugabe, 52 allegedly went on a violent rampage at a luxury Sandton hotel, in Johannesburg last month where her sons were staying in the company of a model and her friends.

According to Reuters Mugabe in her statement, said she was thinking about filing attempted murder charges.

Engels version of the incident had it that an irate Mugabe burst into the room where she was waiting with two friends to meet Chatunga Mugabe on August 13 and started laying into her with an electric cable.

But Grace dismissed Engels' version as "malicious allegations" and said she had been attacked after going to help her sons.

She was worried about them and went to see them at their hotel suite, the statement said.

Upon her arrival, Ms Engels, who was intoxicated and unhinged, attacked Dr Grace Mugabe with a knife after she was asked to leave the hotel.

Security was left with no other option but to remove Ms Engels from the hotel suite.

The statement also alleged that Engels had been in a fight with other women at Johannesburg's Taboo nightclub the previous evening and suggested that may have been the cause of her injuries.