HARARE – Marry Mubaiwa, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, was being held without bail on Saturday on assault charges, in their ongoing divorce battle.

The 36-year-old former model – already on bail on fraud, money laundering and attempted murder charges following a complaint by Chiwenga last December – is accused of assaulting their child minder at a posh Harare school last Tuesday.

The incident at Hellenic School in Borrowdale came a few days after Mubaiwa won a High Court battle to regain custody of her three minor children who were taken by her husband while she languished in remand prison, before her release on bail on January 5.

Delight Munyoro, 36, claims Mubaiwa hit her on the cheek with the back of her hand after she arrived at the school demanding to see her two children. Munyoro claims the blow loosened her teeth and left her with a cut on her lips.

Legal experts said the denial of bail on a common assault charge – characteristically punishable by a fine – was particularly harsh, and suggested that magistrate Bianca Makwande had acted out of fear of the former army general.

Advocate Thabani Mpofu, a prominent Harare lawyer, told ZimLive: “If I comment, I would have to be arrested.”

The magistrate upheld prosecution arguments that Mubaiwa allegedly committed the offence while out on bail in another case that involves violence – the alleged attempted murder of Chiwenga while he was hospitalised in South Africa last July.

Beatrice Mtetwa, Mubaiwa’s lawyer, said they would appeal to the High Court, describing the ruling as a “miscarriage of justice”.

In a damning judgement last week, a High Court judge accused Chiwenga of being a threat to the rule of law, and of using the military to settle personal scores after Mubaiwa – recently released from prison in January – was denied access to their properties and blocked from seeing her children by soldiers, acting on Chiwenga’s orders.

Chief Justice Luke Malaba will on Wednesday hear Chiwenga’s appeal against the High Court judgement ordering him to release the children, and allow Mubaiwa unfettered access to the family properties until their divorce is finalised.

Mubaiwa, meanwhile, says Chiwenga has no prospects of success and has asked the High Court for enforcement of the judgement pending Chiwenga’s appeal.

Chiwenga returned from lengthy treatment in China last November, and immediately commenced divorce proceedings against his wife. He later filed a police complaint, accusing her of attempting to kill him.

Mubaiwa’s lawyers accuse Chiwenga of abusing security agencies, and the courts, in a bid to have his way in the divorce proceedings.