Robbers must rot in jail: Miss Zimbabwe
By Sharon Muguwu
HARARE – Miss World Zimbabwe (Miss Zimbabwe) Annie-Grace Farai Mutambu wants robbers who attacked her and seized her laptop and mobile phone to rot in prison.
She said life has become a nightmare she cannot wake up from since the June 28 day when she escaped an apparent kidnap attempt on the Friday night during which she was assaulted and robbed by six men in Harare’s Craneborne suburb.
“I will only get closure when they are put behind bars,” the 19-year-old Miss Zimbabwe told the Daily News on Sunday.
“When I saw them in court, I got more scared. I am still traumatised.”
Police have arrested four people over the robbery of the beauty queen and they appeared at a Harare Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Two of the robbers are still at large. The six thugs, who were driving a red Volkswagon Golf, pounced as Mutambu and her sister were walking home from a cousin’s house around 8pm.
The robbery caused shock and revulsion, and triggered a Miss Zimbabwe Trust crisis meeting.
“I am still paranoid about my surroundings,” she said.
“When the attack took place, I thought we were going to die, but I gathered strength and started fighting them off.”
She said she is still traumatised by the experience.
The robbery shone a light on the country’s soaring crime rate.
The robbers were apprehended after the cell phone they had stolen was tracked to Chitungwiza.
A second born child in a family of three, she replaced axed-Miss Zimbabwe Emily Kachote, 25, who was stripped of her crown for her purported appearance in leaked nude photographs.
Kachote, however, denies ever posing nude. The Miss Zim Trust had said she had been dethroned for violating rules and regulations governing the pageant.
The new Miss Zimbabwe said her newly-acquired title has complicated her social life.
“The friendships are weird now,” she told the Daily News on Sunday.
“Some people who were close friends have drifted away; I guess they were not true friends.
“Some who were not so close are now closer to me.
“So, yes, in a way the title has changed the way people address me.
“Neighbours just stare as well.” A product of Dominican Convent Schools, she is currently studying with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
She only got into modelling last year, after encouragement from friends.
“I have always had people tell me that I should try modelling and I did in 2014 for the Zimbabwe Fashion Week,” she said
“I then decided to pursue it with Miss Zimbabwe and here I am.
“My greatest challenges when I started were feeling intimidated by other models, especially the more experienced ones.
“But being a Christian, I prayed about it and worked on my confidence.
“I’m a member of the Roman Catholic church.”
She said her biggest inspiration was her mother, Ellen Mutambu, as she single-handedly raised her and her siblings.
“My father is still alive but he is not in the picture,” she said.
“She inspires me a lot as she sent us to school, bought the house that we live in and has been providing everything for us by herself.
“I hope that people will stop looking down upon single mothers as many of them have taken it upon themselves to look after their families.”
She says her mother wanted her to pursue education and was not too supportive of her modelling venture.
“When I started modelling, my mother was not very supportive,” she said.
“She believes that education comes first and for one to digress, she is not impressed.
“I used to play tennis professionally until 2012, but she disapproved.
“I was in the Mashonaland East B Team but I stopped as my mother wanted me to pursue education first. And when I was in form three, I quit.”
Miss Zim wants robbers to rot in jailSTUNNING: Miss World Zimbabwe Annie-Grace Mutambu says she is still traumatised by the robbery she suffered last month. Daily News
